Ex-state official jailed for 10 years for defrauding state, family

A former state official entrusted with land claims and redistribution has been imprisoned for 10 years. He stole a farm and livestock that had been awarded to a labour tenant family.

Patrick Masoka, a former Department of Rural Development and Land Reform officer, was found guilty earlier this year of fraud and two counts of theft amounting to R5.3 million.

The court heard that while working for the department as a project manager in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Masoka had devised a scheme where he and his family took over ownership and control of a commercially viable farm, Kuickvlei, near Ladysmith.

In terms of the land claim settlement, the Shabalala family were to not only become the rightful owners of the farm, but should have also got grants in line with government’s objective to support emerging farmers.

Instead, he took over the farm and proceeded to remove cattle and sheep as if they were his. Masoka did this by creating a trust deed that omitted the Shabalalas as the new owners.

Masoka also amended a host of documents that enabled him and his family to move into the main homestead of Kuickvlei farm and benefit from agricultural development grants for livestock purchase, farm implements and livestock handling facilities.

He ended up defrauding the state and the Shabalalas of more than R5.3 million.

Ten years after the Shabalalas were awarded the Ladysmith farm where they had lived and worked all their lives, they are still waiting for the government to transfer ownership to them.

“It must be placed on record that this is not even in the pipeline,” said Magistrate Judy Naidoo of the Durban Commercial Crimes Court.

Through the subsequent plundering of its assets, Kuickvlei soon deteriorated to such an extent that it was no longer the viable farming entity it was when sold by the previous owner, Gerhardus van Zyl, to the government in 2008 for land reform purposes.

Although the farm was later seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit and taken back by government, it has since become even more dilapidated, said Naidoo.

Naidoo said the case highlighted the extent to which corrupt officials have easily been able to manipulate the land reform process in defrauding rightful beneficiaries.

According to evidence presented in court, the Kuickvlei case was just one of 28 similar cases that had occurred in KwaZulu-Natal.

She said properties such as Kuickvlei could have been used to uplift the socioeconomic circumstances of previously disadvantaged people, but instead had ended up in the hands of corrupt and greedy state functionaries.

“The Shabalalas were totally unsophisticated and had the wool pulled over their eyes when the accused appropriated the farm for himself and his family,” said Naidoo.

“The Shabalalas accepted this because they knew no better of their rights and because he was an official with land affairs.”

Naidoo said that in considering an appropriate sentence, the court also needed to take into account the exorbitant costs incurred by the state in rectifying the wrongs of government officials in cases like this.

In this instance, the forensic investigation had cost R1.3 million, with a further R335 000 spent in preserving the farm’s assets, ultimately to no avail.

She said when it came to land, people were getting fed up with the slow pace of reform and the associated corruption. “As we read about the government’s new policy of expropriation of land without compensation, one sincerely hopes that the policies and procedures implemented will be more streamlined.”

While Masoka’s defence attorney, Madoda Nxumalo, had appealed for the court’s leniency in light of his client’s disability – he uses crutches – Naidoo said Masoka was a fully functional member of society who did not deserve preferential treatment, but rather punishment for his crime. – Groundup.org.za

They had the wool pulled over their eyes.