COURT ORDERS CLAN TO STOP OCCUPYING LAND
Neighbouring farmers granted interdict to stop building of shacks
A COMMUNITY that had planned to erect residential shacks at its 2 800ha farm were stopped by a court order.
Stephanus Jacobs Naude, Ilse Naude, Marius Roothman, Antonie Lit, Carel Venter and Christiaan Gerber brought an urgent court interdict application against members of the Bakwena ba Modimosana of Boshoek near Sun City.
North West High Court’s Judge President Monica Leeuw on February 2 granted an interdict against Noah Ditsebe, Amelia Putu, Diale Konopi, Maria Lechwety, among others.
The order prevents the occupiers of Grootwagendrift farm from living on the property. They are also interdicted from carving out stands and from clearing indigenous vegetation.
The community, which owns Grootwagendrift farm, 6km from Boshoek in Rustenburg area, said they did nothing wrong and vowed to continue with their plan.
Sowetan reported last month that more than 200 members of the Bakwena demanded Gerrie Trysman, a farmer who had leased the property for four years, to vacate the property.
They told him the lease would not be renewed.
In the apartheid era, the farm was forcefully taken away from the clan who then went and settled in Mmatau village, 100km away.
In 2005, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform gave them back their land, but at that time the clan left the running of the farm to the leadership of an elected board of trustees.
They received an interim court order from seven neighbouring farm owners which interdicts them from demarcating stands for the purpose of erecting residential dwellings on the farm.
The clan says it plans to use part of the farm for farming livestock and crop while the other part was going to be used to develop a residential area.
Last month, the clan allocated stands to the beneficiaries, some of whom started to build shacks.
Chairman of the clan’s board Thabo Sekano said the department of Land Reform gave them the land and said they must do as they wished with in it.
He said the owners of the neighbouring farms jumped the gun by thinking that the clan would create an informal settlement.
“They jumped the gun before they heard our story.
“They thought that we were going to make it an informal settlement but we are going to make it a modern residential area,” Sekano said.
He said that they were busy with town planners and the municipality.
Meanwhile, Konopi said they would not be stopped from developing their land.
“We can do anything we like because that piece of land belongs to us,” Konopi said.
“We can do as we like because that piece of land belongs to us
“We have so many plans for that farm. Most of our people are poor and we live far. Staying at that farm will help most of us, especially the youth because they will be closer to Rustenburg and close to job opportunities on the mines.”
The lawyer of the seven farmers who won the court bid, Pierie Wessel, could not comment on the matter.
The clan is expected to file its answering affidavit before March 6. The submissions from both legal representatives is scheduled to be heard on March 23.
Provincial chief director at the department of rural development and land reform Lengale Bogatsu said: “They should have applied for rezoning if they want to develop a settlement at that land, which will have an impact on those farm owners’ land.”
He said agricultural land was not allowed to be changed into a residential land but in terms of restitution processes they have that right.
“They can change from agricultural to residential land if they use a restitution process,” he said.
Bogatsu said factors like geological makeup of the land must be checked first. “It must be determined if the land does not have a dolomitic rock, those are the elements that must be looked at.”
According to land rights organisation Nkuzi Development Association, it was unjust for the neighbouring farmers to dictate how land reform beneficiaries should utilise their land. He accused the farmers of denying the Bakwena clan residential privileges while they themselves lived on their farms.
Nkuzi’s spokesman Vasco Mabunda said the primary objective of the land reform programme was to ensure that black people gain land ownership for residential and farming purposes. He urged the government to step in and overhaul the land use and management policy.