I’m coming to get my property back!

MBABANE— Former Sugar Tycoon Dumisa Dlamini can now afford to smile.

The South African based Dlamini is now waiting for a call informing him that his farms in South Africa have been restored to him officially—after years of fighting a court ruling that reduced him from the status of multi millionaire to an ordinary citizen.

Currently, the Department of Land Affairs, the office of the Master of the High Court and the office of the Registrar of Deeds are exchanging correspondence that will speed up the process of giving him his farms.

This publication is in the possession of a memorandum written by the Registrar of Deeds P.E. Maseko to the office of the Master of the High Court confirming this.

He wrote; "We refer to our three letters of correspondence dated 11/07/2008, 31/07/2008 and 11/08/2008. To date there had not been any response from your office regarding the position as stipulated in the content of those letters.

"We place on record that we have now (been) duly served by the Sheriff of the High Court with an upliftment order setting aside the liquidation. We are duly bound to comply with the order as served therefore restoration of the properties to the above close corporation (Kleindoornkop Broidery) should take place."

The Registrar stated that it was noted by the liquidators on a letter dated July 8, 2008 that the interdict against Dlamini’s company must be cancelled.

"On perusal of the order of the Court, it is noted that the letter was issued in 2002 however the office of the Registrar of Deeds was only served with such an order in 2008. We enquire as to why the liquidators had not uplifted such an order when they should have acted as such (sic).

"At present our office is contaminated with numerous irregularities whereby we request your office to take up the matter with the irregularities whereby we request your office to take up the matter with the liquidators concerned as to the manner they acted," he states in the correspondence.

He emphasised that his office was of the view that all properties that were placed under voluntary liquidation and interdicted should be re-vested to the close corporation as a matter of extreme urgency.

In an interview, Dlamini said; "I’m done with the South African authorities and now it’s time to go back home. As a warning, I should clearly state that anyone occupying any of my properties should prepare to come out heavily wounded."

His properties in Swaziland were auctioned by SwaziBank to settle a debt that Dlamini’s company had with the bank. Some of the properties auctioned were New George Hotel in Manzini, Smokey Mountain, Mgenule Motel, and Swazi Inn.

SwaziBank is unfazed by the latest developments. In his response, Communications Officer Phesheya Vilakati said the developments won’t affect auctions that were conducted locally. Vilakati said the bank had no comment on Dlamini’s assertions that he would return to reclaim his properties.

The former sugar tycoon’s nightmare began when a company (close corporation) with the name KB, was registered by a Malelane resident, Peter Hefferman, who persuaded a third party to apply for sequestration of Dlamini’s company. The close corporation registered by Dlamini was sequestrated and his properties were attached and sold off. To sequestrate is to (legally) take someone’s property away from them until they pay the money that they owe.

Initially, Dlamini was a sugar cane grower in Swaziland, owning vast tracks of Title Deed Land, while also owning some hotels, including the New George Hotel in Manzini, Smokey Mountain, Mgenule Motel, and Swazi Inn to name but a few local properties.

In 1992, Dlamini decided to diversify from his interests in the country, and bought farms in Malelane and Hectorspruit areas in Mpumalanga, through a Close Corporation, KB. He also bought other properties through two companies, Geelspruit Boere and Richtershoek Boerdery. He took out a bond from financier, Volskas, to facilitate cash flow for his business.

According to information before this publication, Dlamini was expecting revenue of E160 million from Transvaal Sugar, but it was diverted to another account. Volskas said he had defaulted on his bond and Dlamini was sequestrated for E13 Million. Volskas later became part of Absa.

It is said that Dlamini was once the continent’s biggest single-entity sugar farmer before he lost his 14 farms in a bitter legal battle with Absa Bank.