FIGHT OVER FARM
A LIMPOPO pensioner leaning on his walking stick listened carefully during an application yesterday asking the Polokwane High Court to remove the management of the Zebediela Citrus Estate.
The application was filed by the Bjatladi Communal Property Association (CPA) on the community’s behalf in November amid allegations of mismanagement and fraud.
Three of the farm’s management team were arrested on fraud charges and are expected back in court in March. They allegedly made R20-million exporting noncompliant fruit.
Yesterday, Piet Louw, counsel for the CPA, likened the relationship between the parties involved to that of a broken marriage.
Louw urged the court to allow the proceedings to continue as the matter involved serious allegations.
The Bjatladi CPA, in court papers, accuse the management team of unfair treatment and of failing to conduct activities at the farm in a diligent manner by transferring skills to the community as agreed.
Louw was responding to the respondents’ lawyer Cedric Puckrin who earlier tried to poke holes in the CPA’s authority to make an application before the court.
He further stated that including the fraud allegations in the civil matter would also be prejudicial to his clients in the pending criminal case.
Judge President Ephraim Mampuru Makgoba said he would allow the matter to proceed despite the points raised by Puckrin.
The matter continues today.