The Nkuzi Development Association, which fights for the rights of farm dwellers, says it is concerned about ongoing evictions of people living on farms without court orders in some parts of Limpopo.
The SABC has so far reported three incidents in 2020.
In the latest case, a farm owner in Musina is allegedly threatening to evict 61-year-old Skokian Nkuna and his family without a court order.
Nkuna has lived on the farm in Musina for more than 40 years and worked as a labourer for 31 years.
Nkuna and his wife raised their children and grandchildren there.
Problems surfaced in 2016 when the new owner Dilmas Bertis allegedly dismissed Nkuna and some of his children from work.
Nkuna’s daughter Beauty says there has been constant intervention from the Nkuzi Development Association since then.
“We were born and raised on the farm. We even became farm labourers. But in 2016 the farm owner fired our father and some of us. Representatives of Nkuzi came and intervened. We stayed. But he (farm owner) always finds ways to start fights with us,” explains the daughter.
She says there are also threats to cut their water and lights.
Nkuna’s daughter adds that last week Wednesday, the owner gave them a verbal seven-day notice to vacate the farm.
“We are tired and don’t know where to go because he keeps coming to our house and harasses us. We don’t have peace at all, even though he found us on the farm when he bought it. We are asking for help because we are powerless against him as he has money and we are poor. This is our only home,” adds Beauty Nkuna.
Humbulani Nenzhelele from Nkuzi says they have approached government to intervene and plan to take further steps.
“M Nkuna has been receiving threats when the owner of the farm decided that he does not need him and his kids on the farm. He [the farm owner] said that if he [Nkuna] does not comply he would have to demolish Mr Nkuna’s structures on the farm.”
“Immediately after our meeting with the department, Mr Bertis welded the door to prevent Mr Nkuna’s daughter to gain access into the house. We are going to lodge a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) because Mr Bertus thinks that he is above the law,” explains Nendzhelele.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in Limpopo says an eviction notice has not been issued.
Spokesperson for the department Avhashoni Magada says they are investigating allegations by Bertis that the family has erected illegal structures on the farm.
“What they find is that its an issue of relationship that is going wrong, that emanated from the erection of dwellings and all those things that are happening in there. So our interventions are just to make sure that we secure the tenure of people who are living on the farm.”
“So there is no eviction letter as we speak now. What we have observed is a letter sent to the farm resident Mr Nkuna, advising him to stop constructing external dwellings in the farm and there are also allegations of saying there is an illegal connection,” explains Magada.
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala engages farming community in Newcastle
Earlier in September, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala engaged with the farming community, including workers and dwellers in Newcastle.
It was his second visit to the rural farming town following the brutal killings of a farming couple, Glenn and Vida Rafferty in August 2020
In the video below, Zikalala engages farming community:
