MAHWALALA’S 10 YEARS OF PEACE IN LIMBO

MAHWALALA – After close to a decade of ‘calmness’ at Mahhwalala, the peace might be threatened as the community’s youth seem ready to take on ACM over a land dispute.
ACM is an abbreviation for Africa Continent Mission.

Over a decade ago, the Mahwalala youth and ACM were at each others’ throats mostly over the operations of the mission’s school - Saim Christian High School.
The main issue was that to the youth’s knowledge, the school had to be a community school but that was not so as they learnt that it was a private school.
Their contention was that school fees were too expensive for children from that community.

For years, this impasse was put to bed until last week when the youth saw heavy equipment on what they had known to be the community’s football field.

construction

The heavy-duty vehicle was reportedly found doing construction work on the field, something which puzzled the young people as they were not notified about any planned development for the pitch.
In an interview, the young people said they learnt that the heavy-duty vehicle was deployed to work on the football pitch by the Saim Christian High School authorities.
They wondered how that was possible as the field belonged to the community and not the school.

They wondered why a community meeting was not called to inform people that the land now belonged to the school if there were any changes.
The young people said what disturbed them was why zone leaders did not invite them and the ACM to a meeting where the issue of the ownership of the land would be discussed and concluded.

Altervative

They said if the land was given to the school, the youth should be given an alternative portion of land to be used for recreational purposes.
They argued that they contributed towards the levelling of the land where the football pitch is years before the school was found.
They alleged that they engaged and paid a certain company that constructed the road to Mahhwalala to also level the football pitch for them.
They wondered what claim over the land the school or the mission had.

“People complain that the crime rate in Mahwalala is high; how can it not if young people do not have land to use for recreational purposes,” wondered the young people.
The youth said they feared that if they let the football field issue go; things might turn for the worst. They said they feared that the school might end up claiming land that belonged to residents.
The young people were asked about the whether they would agree to sharing the land with the mission for the sake of peace.

They lamented that they feared the school might continue developing the land without informing them and eventually shut them out.
They believed what would solve the matter was having it on record as to who was the rightful owner of the land on which the football pitch was on.

The youths alleged that when the school was introduced, they were promised that a multimillion Emalangeni soccer stadium would be built in the area; however, they are yet to see that happen.
They argued that all they saw was the school developing and taking up more of land.

They said challenges that accompanied this was that rates paid by residents living close to the school were more expensive than in other areas in the community due to their proximity to the school.

affected

This they said, affected them in that some children from the community had to attend school in other areas because Saim Christian High School was expensive.
They also said the community and school were often at each other’s throats over land issues.
They questioned how then the school benefitted them as a community.

Attempts to get comments from the school Head teacher, Stanley Mdluli, were unsuccessful as his mobile phone rang unanswered.
Mdluli was called at least five times, however, with no success. The last attempt was made yesterday at around 4pm.

Attempts to get comments from Professor Kim of the Africa Continent Mission (ACM) were also unsuccessful as his mobile phone was not available on the MTN network. He was reported to be out of the country.
A former chairperson of the school’s committee shared that to his knowledge, the football field was within the school’s boundaries.
plans
He said he recalled that the school had had plans to develop it but at the time he vacated office, that had not happened.
He said he recalled that the school pursued the matter further after he left office but he was not sure what eventually transpired.
“If memory serves me well, the Municipal Council of Mbabane map reflects that the football field is within the school’s boundaries,” the former chairperson said.

The former chairperson clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the school but was stating what he knew about the matter.
He said to him, it did not matter who was working on the football field but what mattered was that it would benefit the whole community.

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