Some of those we spoke to told us they had to foot long distances to try their chance to access the said loans.

Sinosi Bakuwa, for example, travelled 70 kilometres from Sub-T/A Gumba to Mchinji boma.

“It has been very tough for us to get here. We hope we will access the loans,” he said claiming he travelled for the exercise after “MARDEF officials” came and asked us to form groups of ten people.

“We were told we would access the loans through the groups,” he said.

Zodiak also spoke to others who had spent two days in town to access a MARDEF loans form.

Some of the villagers are seeking shelter on veranda of nearby shops and houses.

"We had nowhere to sleep and as such some of us opted to seek shelter here,” said Esnart Makwinja of Traditional Authority Mavwere in the district. She has a baby of suckling age.

She said “We did all we were told to do, including photocopying our national identity cards. We hope that suffices”.