Interdict granted over land invasion

THE Grahamstown High Court yesterday interdicted groups of people threatening to unlawfully invade and occupy the historic Macleantown municipal commonage this weekend.

Buffalo City Metro (BCM) sought the interdict to prevent Makaleki Simanga, Tuni Cutu, Elivis Moyake or anyone else threatening to illegally occupy a part of the commonage or build any structures on it.

The commonage has long been contested land.

Black residents were forcibly removed from Macleantown during apartheid and relocated to areas in the former Transkei and Ciskei.

Acting BCM municipal manager Nceba Ncunyana says a 1994 land claim by the Macleantown Residents Association had been settled in terms that allowed those dispossessed to be granted alternative land where restoration of the original land was not feasible.

In terms of the agreement they were allocated land on the commonage.

The commonage was duly subdivided and allocated to owners as well as a portion to “tenants”. Areas were also demarcated for a school and church.

The rest of the commonage was to be used for grazing and wood gathering by the community.

But, he said, Simanga had in 2012 formed a committee that had illegally begun demarcating and allocating plots of land on the commonage.

Initially just seven families had moved onto the commonage and erected dwellings.

Although the committee had later been disbanded due to squabbling, Simanga and Cutu had formed another committee and had recently again begun to demarcate and allocate plots of land.

Moyake had also formed a committee that had also begun to demarcate plots for people to occupy.

Ncunyana said the municipality was not yet seeking to remove those already occupying the land but was determined to prevent further land invasions.

Its next step would be to resort to the courts to evict those already illegally living there and to have the homes – some built of brick and others of wood and iron – demolished.

He said attempts to persuade the two committees not to proceed with illegal invasions had come to nought.

Instead, they had met with threats of physical violence and a warning they would also occupy and close the N6 between East London and Stutterheim.

He said a land invasion was being orchestrated for this weekend and police had indicated they could not act without an interdict.

“This illegal action must be prevented if the municipality is to stand any chance not only of giving effect to the rights of those persons whose land claims were settled . . . but also of fulfilling its constitutional responsibility to ensure the orderly and planned usage of municipal land.”

Grahamstown correspondent attorney for the BCM, Mark Nettelton, yesterday confirmed Judge Murray Lowe had granted the interdict prohibiting the three men or anyone else from unlawfully demarcating, allocating or occupying the land or building any structures on it.