By BONGUMUSA SIMELANE | 2020-05-27
ANGRY residents of Dlangeni from Lomahhina community have destroyed fencing belonging to nine homesteads that they claim were illegally built.
Recently, Ludzidzini Council strongly condemned the illegal allocation of land in grazing lands and the selling of Swazi Nation Land.
The residents claimed the homesteads are constructed on the veld (emadlelo) which is designated to graze livestock. A representative of the Lomahhina residents, Nkosinathi Simelane, said they were ordered by Chief Nsukumbili Gama of Dlangeni to deal with the illegal homes.
He said they had raised concerns over the allocation of land to these people on grazing space to the area’s authorities but that has dragged for so long.
Simelane said they had even confronted some of the people while they were constructing their homes but were told that they khontaed through the inner council (Bandlancane). He said what was strange was that the inner council that the people referred to was suspended by the chief and a new one was supposed to be appointed.
The inner council is said to be under the leadership of Make Kuki Magagula. The residents allege that Magagula is the one who allocated land to the new settlers.
“She is the one controlling the whole inner council and she is the one behind all the unlawful allocation of land to these people,” Simelane alleged. Among the people who have khontaed in the area are families from Ncandweni, Makholokholo and Hlatikulu. Simelane said on Saturday the area’s authorities told them that they should remove the fencing from the latest homestead that were being built.
“We were told that the chairlady has been stripped of her position, which we are not sure of but as for us we are going to fight this battle till the end,” he said.
Simelane said when the authorities wanted to engage Magagula they were excused but they heard that she was told not to interfere with the chiefdom’s issue.
They were not sure if that was true because what they have noted was that she had been appointed as the secretary of the inner council while she had served before as a chairperson.
“This is something new in this area. There has never been such a thing, that people will be allocated land without the chief’s knowledge,” he said.
He added that in 2018 the chiefdom’s indvuna had made an order that there should be no kukhontisa in the area until further notice but the inner council was busy allocating land to people, defying the authorities’ order. Simelane said they have told the authorities that the new settlers would be removed from the grazing land.
He said some of the settlers had a tendency to put up structures at night. Not only that they claim that a community police by the name of Gerard Hlophe was sent by the chief to stop the settlers from building their homes but they reported the community police to Magagula.
Magagula is alleged to have told these settlers not to be misinformed by anyone as she was the one who was in charge of everything.
‘We want realistic development too’
The residents of Lomahhina under Dlangeni said they want realistic development in the area.
They said this could be attained if there were some people who were being allocated space on the grazing land.
Nkosinathi Simelane said people of the area make a living through gardening and other manual jobs so if there were settlers allocated land on the grazing pastures it could be hard for them to pursue their day-to-day business as they will be forced to look after cattle the whole day.
He said they can’t look after cattle the whole day and can’t do their gardening which earns them money to live.
Simelane said grazing pastures are part of development and if there are people given permission to build their homes on them then that was hindering development.
I did not senD anyone to do that - Chief
Chief Nsukumbili Gama of Dlangeni said he never sent anyone to remove fencing belonging to the homesteads.
He only asked emancusa to summon the people to come to him so that they can explain their presence in the area. Gama said it was the inner council that was responsible for allocating land to new settlers although he did not know how the nine homesteads came about.
He was aware though that there were people who have built their homes on grazing land and he had sent emancusa to talk to them to stop doing that.
When asked about the powers of the inner council’s chairperson (Magagula), the chief said there is nothing much he can say about that as all he knew was that Magagula was still a member of the inner council.
On another note, the chief said he knew that there are people who are alleged to have khontaed in the area but there was no cow presented to him by the said people or the inner council as per the customary law.
‘We are not going anywhere’
Some of the new inhabitants who are accused of having built their homes on grazing land have vowed that they won’t go anywhere regardless of the threats by the residents of Lomahhina.
Dudu Dlamini, who is allegedly one of the owners of the homes illegally built, said they have khontaed in the area through the right channels and the threats by the other residents won’t deter them to leave their home.
She said she khontaed last year and since then the residents have been confronting them. Dlamini said they went to the extent of breaking a water tap and cutting the water pipes with the intention to discourage them from building their homes.
“We don’t care even if it cost our lives; we are not going anywhere because we were allocated the land by the inner council. Even if they can burn down the house we won’t go,” she said.
Meanwhile, Khosi Kunene said she now feared for her life after all this. She said they have khontaed the right way as they even paid E6 500 for the cow which was given to the inner council.
She said they were even given a receipt by the inner council that they have indeed paid the beast for kukhonta.
“I am really worried as I stay with my daughter who is 16 years old. I am now scared of the people as they might come and attack us,” she said.
Kunene said she was also worried by her fencing which was removed. She said the fence could be stolen and she was even contemplating reporting this to the police.
share story
Post Your Comments Below
THE passing on of one of the country’s longest serving ministers of the Gospel has left the...
Government has filed an urgent application at the High Court seeking an order reviewing and setti...
Nedbank Eswatini has demonstrated resilience in a complex economic environment, reporting a 10 pe...
Eswatini sensation, Uncle Waffles, has been increasingly teasing the release of what is set to be...
All material © Swazi Observer. Material may not be published or reproduced in any form without prior written permission.
Design by Real Image Internet