NO END IN SIGHT TO LAND GRAB ERUPTION
Invaders defying court order vow they won’t back down as farmers watch in dismay
THIS weekend, despite court orders by Buffalo City Metro and private developer SlipKnot Investments 777, people continued to invade and demarcate themselves prime sites along the R72 and next to the road that leads to Cove Rock Estate and dairy farms.
The Saturday Dispatch reported how hundreds of people were seen on private farms, including farm 924, armed with axes, shovels and picks, allocating plots.
This happened as shocked landowners stood nearby, watching the invaders defying the Constitution, the law and the court orders forbidding them from doing so.
One of the developers, who said his land was selling for “millions of rands” lamented that the land grab had affected a deal that was going to be finalised before June.
“A buyer called from Johannesburg when he read about this, asking if his land was invaded and I had to tell him that we hoped it would be under control … he sounded worried,” said the investor, who wanted to remain anonymous.
Rodney Knobel of Knobel Estates, who is developing an upmarket housing estate just a kilometre away from the land invasion, said those who were illegally taking land were “jumping the gun”.
“To get land without [the owner receiving] compensation would need a change to the Constitution to accommodate that – it’s premature for people to just do that. This will damage the economy of our country. People can’t just jump the gun and start taking other people’s land,” he said.
The Slip Knot company, which owns the adjacent farm 923, formally known as Collondale Canneries – a substantial tract of land in the area – put security guards around the land to protect it and “give all those who illegally occupy their land copies of a court order they’ve obtained over the weekend”.
The Daily Dispatch team saw copies of the East London High Court Order attached to electricity poles and tree branches for all to see.
The court order was addressed to “all persons whose full names are unknown [and are] unlawfully demarcating, allocating plots, trespassing and or building structures on portion 1 or 2 of farm 923 East London, known as the old Collondale Canaries premises.”
The court ordered that the sheriff demolish any structure illegally built on the land.
The company also erected a fence around the property, much to the dismay of those demarcating plots for themselves.
“We can’t be prevented from owning this land while companies like these own vast tracts. When we are allocating ourselves land they start to put a fence around. Aren’t they invading this land themselves? We need equality,” said a man who preferred to be known as Mr Mboniswa.
The Dispatch contacted the Slip Knot Investments group but the director, Rhett Shaw, declined to comment.
Since last Monday, thousands of people have invaded farms and privately owned land in the area.
Law enforcement agencies were seen on the scene but did not remove anyone as “no structures” had been erected. The only structure built on Friday was demolished on Saturday but it was not clear if this was carried out by law enforcement officers.
The DA in BCM said they supported a comprehensive land reform programme that was done responsibly and “in an orderly manner”.
“The Constitution and legislation make provision for the restitution of land as well as providing a process for ensuring that this is equitable to all concerned,” said MP Kevin Mileham, constituency leader of BCM coastal.
BCM erected two signboards on Farm 924 yesterday. Signed by municipal manager Andile Sihlahla, they read: “The sheriff of the court, with the assistance of the BCM police and/or South African Police Services, is empowered by this order of the court to take all necessary and reasonable steps to dismantle or demolish any structure erected on this property in contravention of the court order.” —
AN EASTERN Cape family who have called a farm outside East London home for more than a century, are being forced from the only land they know.
The Mnyaka family in Chintsa East have been told to vacate the land, which has seven family graves, by HCLE Development Company. The development company wants to build a resort on the land, according to court documents seen by the Daily Dispatch.
But the Mnyaka family are refusing to move, claiming the land has been occupied by their forefathers since the 1800s.
The Great Kei local municipality said they had received court papers from HCLE citing them as the third respondents in the Grahamstown High Court case involving the Mnyaka family.
Municipal spokeswoman Akhona Shumane-Cakata said their acting municipal manager Mzimasi Mtalo had received the papers on Thursday.
“But of critical importance will be to visit this family and get the facts. Great Kei will not tolerate evictions.”
Nonzwakazi Mnyaka, 83, who is fighting the eviction, said she had been betrayed by someone she trusted to protect them. She said Neil Hunter, one of the HCLE directors, knew they had no other place to go.
She said her husband, Simon, who was born in the 20s, was buried on the farm, as were her husband’s parents.
“My children got married and moved to their own places and left me here. This is their home. We practise our traditional rituals in this space. Is it because we are illiterate and poor that these developers are taking advantage of us?”
The elderly woman said she had no money to fight the case in court but believed “a right court will know who is right and who is wrong”.
Last week, the Daily Dispatch was called by the family to witness the rebuilding of their home, which they claim had been demolished “by a gang of white people” who wanted them out of their “bulls**t shack”.
Their dwelling is situated not far from the perimeter fence of the new Olivewood Golf Estate. In his affidavit to court, HCLE director Neil Hunter says, “the owner of the neighbouring golf estate complained about the structure being an eyesore”.
Kelly Rens of Olivewood said the “eyesore shack” was the minimal remnant of an old, uninhabited structure that had not been occupied since Olivewood’s inception seven years ago.
“With the approval of the landowners, Olivewood removed the remaining rusted pieces of corrugated iron and gave it to Mr Hunter. You should contact the owners of the land for comment,” said Rens.
Mnyaka’s son, Mzwandile, said it was their home and they were not moving out.
“We cannot be forced to relocate from this farm. I was born on this farm in the 60s; my sisters were born on this same farm in the 40s and Hunter only came here late in his life to stay here. By that time, many of our relatives had been buried here.”
But as the family was rebuilding their home last week, they were served with a notice of motion and other documents by a sheriff from the Grahamstown High Court informing them of intentions to evict them from the land.
The elderly Mnyaka is the first respondent, Mzwandile the second and Great Kei local municipality the third.
According to the papers, the developers acquired the land for the purpose “of its development of a resort township”.
Another of its directors, Johannes Fourie, of Somerset West, says in an affidavit signed last Tuesday that HCLE owns Farm 508, which is 41 8308ha in size.
He said HCLE had bought the land from Hunter in 2006.
“During 2008, the first and second respondents moved off the property, abandoning the informal dwelling in which she had been living, and took up residence in Chintsa East township, I understand, with her daughters.”
He said prior to 2008, the Mnyakas had the right to reside on the property in terms of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act No 62 of 1997 (Esta).
“But that right was abandoned and came to an end when the first and second respondents vacated the property during 2008.”
But the family refutes this, saying they only temporarily left the farm in 2014 after their dwelling fell apart.
“Hunter lies in his affidavit about us leaving the farm in 2008,” said Mzwandile.
In his affidavit, Hunter said the family structure “fell to pieces” within a period of nine months.
“The owner of the neighbouring golf estate complained about the structure being an eyesore and, with the consent of the applicant, it was dismantled,” said Hunter.
Hunter said he was aware of the plans to evict the Mnyaka family but was not able to comment.
“I know about the family and I know them, but I can’t comment. Speak to the developers.”
Lawyer Bradley Sparg, representing HCLE for Bax, Kaplan & Russell attorneys, said the occupiers of the illegal dwelling would only be expected to vacate once the court granted an order authorising the eviction.
“It is not a “family” that is unlawfully occupying the property, but only Ms Nomzwakazi Mnyaka.
“Ms Mnyaka has alternative accommodation. This is where she has been residing with her family for about the last five to 10 years. Ms Mnyaka has only taken occupation of the property in the last week,” said Sparg.
The matter is due in court on February 6. —