The land invasion has divided the community of Nokaneng village in Mpumalanga. Many residents have illegally occupied pieces of land that do not belong to them. They have been at it since June.
This does not sit well with livestock farmers. The illegal land occupants marched to the Barolong Ba Lefifi Tribal Authority to hand over a petition.
This was after residents handed over a petition to their Traditional Authority, demanding to meet the council over the unoccupied piece of land.
The illegal occupants are demanding a report on occupied stands, since last year. Most have already erected shacks on the occupied land. Others claim that the land belongs to their forefathers.
A tug-of-war over vacant land at Portion 2 and 3 of Nokaneng village has intensified. A group of residents, including youth and women, have occupied portions of the land illegally, insisting that, they too need residential land where they can stay.
“We have got kids and are not married, so their kids have to have their own shelter in the future, because when you die, and then you kids don’t have a roof where they put their head, and then it becomes a problem. Some of the kids become street kids because they don’t have any place to sleep.”
“It’s a need to me because I have two sons and one daughter, who want to have a shelter to stay or to occupy when I leave or working.”
Leader of the Nokaneng Concerned Group, Freddy Masemeni, says they have tried to engage the Traditional Authority several times, without any success.
Masemeni says the petition is to highlight their plight, so that, the chief can intervene.
“We marched to the Tribal Office because we’ve been trying to engage with them on several occasions but to no avail. Every time we went there they take us from pillar to post. In our last two meetings, the Traditional Council didn’t show up. The Traditional Council was not taking us seriously – that’s why we decided to write a petition to send them to the Tribal Office,” says Masemeni.
“We do have a land Portion to 2 and 3 which is allocated to nobody. That land was open, but we’ve seen the development going on in that Portion 2 and 3 but when you ask what is happening? Who are these persons paying the money to? We cannot get a straight answer. So we decided to allocate ourselves some stands because we see a need for us to have our own places. There is no available land in our place called Nokaneng,” adds Masemeni.
The traditional leadership of Barolong Ba Lefifi has appealed to local residents to stop the illegal land occupation and called for an amicable solution to the problem.
“To avoid this situation, we are still waiting for the municipality to survey the area so that we can allocate stands officially. But before we can allocate stands , those people have to consult their clans (Dikgoro). I have appealed to them to be patient and I cannot deny them the chance to have shelters, but I want them to follow the correct procedure. I don’t want them to forcefully occupy the land, I know most of them are not working and I don’t want them to be evicted” Masemeni says.
The illegal land occupants have given the Barolong Ba Lefifi Traditional Authority, 48 hours to respond to their petition.
