Times Of Swaziland: AG INSISTS: 10 NOKWANE HOMES TO BE DEMOLISHED

AG INSISTS: 10 NOKWANE HOMES TO BE DEMOLISHED
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BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE  on 25/09/2014 05:08:00


MBABANE – Government will continue with the demolition of 10 homesteads at
Nokwane despite that there is a pending appeal.
The AG  has said the demolition of the said homesteads can only be stopped once
there is an instruction from His Majesty the King.
About 10 homesteads will be demolished at Nokwane to give way to the
construction of the Royal Bio-Technology Park.
The High Court recently issued a final order ejecting/evicting all those
claiming occupation on Farm 692 Nokwane.
The court also ordered that all and every illegal structure erected on the Farm
should be demolished.
The residents filed an appeal which they alleged stays the execution of the
judgment calling for the demolition of their ‘homesteads’.
The office of the Attorney General had since written them a letter informing
them that government was continuing with the demolitions despite the appeal
noted.
“Pursuant to the court order obtained on September 8, 2014 against you, you
are hereby informed that the illegal structures will demolished,” reads part
of the letter. The attorney general requested the ‘residents’ to vacate the
property as per the court order, failing which their personal belongings would
be damaged along with the demolition of the illegal structures.
The AG further stated that his office noted that they (residents) had filed a
notice of appeal on the matter, which appeal they viewed as being a delaying
tactic because the issues raised on appeal were technical and they do not go to
the merits, being the alleged illegal occupation of the property in question.
“Despite your appeal the only thing that can stop the demolition from
proceeding on the said date is an instruction from His Majesty the King,”
stated the AG who was represented by Senior Crown Counsel Vusi Kunene.
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Information, Communication and
Technology, Sikelela Dlamin, stated that during the year 2006, the Ministry of
Housing embarked on a township development project.
“The ministry, together with the Lobamba lomdzala umphakatsi, began a
relocating exercise with regard to lawful farm dwellers who were occupying the
farm which is the subject matter of this application,” he stated.
He said the farm dwellers were given alternative land to settle at and were also
compensated for such relocation.
Resettlement
“However, after the resettlement process, some of those people later came back
into the farm and were also joined by other squatters who had not initially
resided on the farm. Farm 692, Mbanana was later allocated for the construction
of the Royal Science and Innovation Park/ Biotechnology Park,” said the
principal secretary.
Dlamini further submitted that on commencement of the construction of the park,
government discovered that there were illegal squatters on the farm, which
government believed had long vacated. He stated that representatives from the
Swaziland Government, in particular the Ministry of Information, Communication
and Technology, which is the relevant ministry in the construction of the park
with the Ministry of Housing and Lobamba lomdzala umphakatsi, held numerous
meetings with the squatters.
He said during the numerous meetings the squatters were informed of their
illegal stay on the farm.
“It was not known how they came to settle on the farm after the original farm
dwellers were relocated. Notwithstanding their trespassing, government
negotiated with the umphakatsi to give them an alternative piece of land,
despite the fact that the umphakatsi did not known some of them,” he
submitted. The PS said after being given alternative piece of land the squatters
were told that the umphakatsi expected them to follow the procedure for
acquiring land on Swazi Nation Land (bachube Siswati bakhonte).
Dlamini said the respondents (squatters) opted to be defiant and remained in the
farm illegally.
He stated that government advised the squatters that it was willing to incur
costs associated with relocation, including costs for reburial of their
relatives. “Despite all the attempts by government the respondents, and all
those claiming occupation under them, are continuing with the unlawful
occupation of the Farm,” stated Dlamini.