Farm+evictions+increase,+Sama+Yende,+Ledwaba,+City+Press

City Press, Johannesburg, 27/01/2007 17:53 - (SA)
=Farm evictions increase=


 * SIZWE SAMA YENDE and LUCAS LEDWABA**

THE scramble to join the multimillion-rand trophy-hunting and golf estate business by farmers and landowners in Limpopo and Mpumalanga has led to an increase in the number of eviction cases, say land-rights activists.

Lucas Mufamadi, director of land-rights group Nkuzi Development Association, and Limpopo environmental management inspectorate director Phillip Monyepao say farmers are converting their properties into game farms and golf estates because of their profitability.

The move is also seen as a way for farmers to evade stringent land tenure legislation that protects the rights of farm workers and dwellers.

But Agri SA president Lourie Bosman says farmers are organising alternative accommodation for tenants removed from land in such developments. Bosman says game farms create more jobs than agriculture and stock farming.

“Game farms are labour intensive ... they employ more people because they have lodges. So this type of farming is profitable and stimulates the economy. The rights of farm dwellers can be respected and they can become partners in the ventures.”

On Friday, the Thabazimbi Magistrates’ Court in Limpopo heard one such case in which a landowner is attempting to evict a pensioner.

Stock farmer Gerrit Botha wants to introduce wild animals onto his land, which means tenants like David van Rooi (64) would have to move.

Van Rooi, who has reportedly lived on the property all his life, is contesting the eviction. Nandu Malumbete, a lawyer for Nkuzi, says Van Rooi’s rights as a long-term occupier under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (Esta) have been violated.

According to Esta, a person who is over the age of 60 and has lived on land for more than 10 years enjoys special rights to the land and can only be evicted if a court finds reasonable grounds to do so.

“(Botha) wants to put dangerous animals on this farm. He has offered Van Rooi’s family accommodation at the workers’ compound, but the problem is what is going to happen to his livestock as he can’t keep it there,” says Malumbete.

In another case in Mpumalanga, matters are expected to come to a head as the battle to resettle two families, whose homesteads are situated in the middle of a luxury golf estate, heads for the courts.

The Mahlangu and Mthombeni families say they have lived on the Kareefalls farm near Dullstroom since the 1950s. A portion of the land has been sold to Gate Developments, which is building an R850-million golf estate that boasts an 18-hole course designed by golfer Ernie Els.

The families have been involved in a protracted battle over a settlement to vacate the land with the previous landowner, Tony Steinhobel. Two other families have vacated the land after accepting a payment of R30 000 each, but the Mahlangu and Mthombeni families are demanding a 20-hectare portion of land each, with houses and electricity. Steinhobel has offered both families one portion of 20 hectares and has promised to build them houses.

William Mthombeni, spokesperson for the families, says the land allocated to the families is not enough, considering they own livestock.

Idos Mokoena, programme officer at non-governmental organisation The Rural Action Committee, who has been assisting the two families, says they stand to lose everything, including the portion of land allocated to them, if the matter goes to court.

“We have tried to convince them to accept this offer because if the matter goes to court and they lose, they will have to settle the legal costs which means they might have to sell everything they have.”

Mark Gilfillan of Gate Developments says they will be forced to apply for an eviction order as the matter has dragged for too long and is affecting the development of the golf estate which is at an advanced state.

In another matter involving a golf estate development in Limpopo, the Mamukeyani land claimants in Elim, near Makhado, have accused Shiloah (Pty) Ltd of destroying graves to make way for the estate.

The land claimants’ chairperson, Raymond Nkanyani, says the graves form part of the evidence for their land claim, which involves the Wolfeoorde 38 LT and Goodehoop farms. Pat Mudau, a project officer at the land claims commission, says the Mamukeyani claim was to be gazetted in a fortnight.

“The problem here is that the golf estate is being built very close to the land the community has claimed, but their claim form does not reflect that the land being developed forms part of their claim,” Mudau says.

In Baltimore, also in Limpopo, a family that claims to have lived on a farm since 1925 has been served with an eviction notice because the new landowner wants to convert the farm into a game farm.

Nkuzi project officer Vasco Mabunda says the landowner has offered to build Lizbeth Sibetha (49) and her family a two-roome house in a nearby village, but that the family deserves better after living on the farm for so long.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/Features/0,,186-1696_2060717,00.html**

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