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ESWADE IN ‘LAND GRAB’ FIASCO

09/10/2022 16:02:00 Welcome Dlamini

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MBABANE – Category A public enterprise ESWADE is accused of illegally taking over ancestral farming land belonging to a family living in Big Bend.

The name of Silwayiphi Sithole, the Chief Executive Officer at the Eswatini Water and Agricultural Enterprise (ESWADE) features prominently in the land debacle. Occupants of the land allege that on Monday, October 3, 2022, an earthmoving equipment arrived and began removing fence around the property and started clearing it without talking to them. The family says they have been using the land to cultivate crops and had prepared it this time around to plant cotton and maize.

According to Lawyer Sipho Gumedze, who is the affected family’s legal representative, when his clients enquired from those who were clearing the land, they were told that it was ESWADE that was doing land preparation on behalf of an agricultural scheme known as the Sojobe Farmers Association. Those who were clearing the land reportedly informed the family that permission had been granted by Chief Mshikashika Ngcamphalala, the traditional authority KaNgcamphalala Chiefdom where the property is situated. The family has now gone to court to seek an order stopping, among other things, ESWADE from continuing with work on the land.

Application

Maphumzane Gina, who says the land was allocated to his father, Hlokota Gina, even before he was born and that his elder brother, Alfred Gina, was born on the land on November 27, 1955, has filed an urgent application at the High Court. He says he has been residing on the land for a period of four years, having started living there in 2018, when he built his home.
“My father was allocated the land. He was shown the boundaries of the land. He fenced the land because he used to carry out farming for both household and commercial purposes,” Maphumzane states in his papers. He says he took occupancy of the land after he was requested by the family since this used to be their parental home and in 2018 he built his house where their father’s home used to be. “On Monday October 3, 2022 I observed earthmoving equipment on my land. I queried those who were working and they informed me that they were employees or agents of Eswatini Water Agricultural Development Enterprise (ESWADE),” (sic) he alleges.

According to Maphumzane, the employees or agents of ESWADE were removing the fence that he had erected to demarcate the land that he cultivates. “I then took photographs of the damaged fence. I beg to refer this Honourable Court to copies of the damaged fence and the people who were removing the fence including the equipment used. I have attached the photographs herein and marked them as annexure ‘MGI’ collectively,” the court papers further read. He alleges that when he enquired the authority on why they had to remove his fence, he was informed that permission had been granted to Sojobe Farmers Association to use the land for commercial sugar cane farming. “I was informed that permission had been granted by Chief Mshikashika Ngcamphalala to Sojobe Farmers Association to commence sugar cane farming on the land,” he alleges.

evolved

Maphumzane says he and his siblings formed an association and secured funding to cultivate the land, which “was lawfully allocated to our father. Our father when he passed away the land evolved to us.” He claims that when the ESWADE agents and or employees cleared the land with the earthmoving equipment, it had already been cultivated, with pipes already installed on the ground ready to continue with commercial agricultural activities. He accuses Sojobe, Chief Mshikashika and ESWADE of interfering with his right of possession of the land. “The land is rightfully possessed by me by virtue of the fact that the land was allocated to my father. When my father passed away, the land revolved to me,” Maphumzane says.
He further claims that when he woke up on the morning of October 4, 2022, he observed a bulldozer on the land.

bulldozer

“The bulldozer was being driven on the land that has been prepared and was ready for planting maize and cotton. I went to inspect and observed the bulldozer removing irrigation pipes, which I had aid on the ground,” he alleges. “He further avers: “I called the Chief Executive Officer of ESWADE Mr. Silwayiphi Sithole on his mobile phone and enquired why there (sic) were removing my irrigation pipes on the fields. He responded saying, that if I was not happy I should approach the courts of the land.” Maphumzane alleges that he also called one Bongani Magagula who he was advised was the Project Manager of the Lower Usuthu Irrigation Project (LUSIP) under ESWADE, who also told him that they were going ahead with removing the fence and irrigation pipes and further said that they were going to plough over where he had already ploughed.

He says if the court grants him an interdict, there is no harm or prejudice that Sojobe, Chief Mshikashika and ESWADE stands to suffer. “I am already suffering prejudice. I obtained a loan which I used to lay down the irrigation pipes. I also purchased a fence in order to secure the crops that I was about to cultivate. If the authorities in the country make a finding that the respondents have a right to deprive me of the land in the manner they are doing, then the respondents can then go ahead with the project,” he continues to state. He claims to have tried to engage all parties without any success. “This morning I sought and was granted an audience by Chief Mshikashika Ngcamphalala, who informed me that he did not sanction the project carried out by the first respondent (Sojobe) to be carried out on my land. The first and third respondents (Sojobe and ESWADE) say that they were given authority by the chief to use the land. The only legal remedy that is available to me to secure my rights in the interim is through an interdict granted by this Honourable Court,” pleads Maphumzane.

damage

He says the matter is urgent for the following reasons: Sojobe and ESWADE are removing the fence demarcating the land; there is a bulldozer preparing the land; the bulldozer is driving on land that is laid with water pipes; he has seeds and fertiliser in a storage and will be ruined if not used urgently; he has hired tractors to plough the land in preparation to plant; the land is ready for planting; and because the damage is ongoing. “Despite that, on one hand, the CEO of ESWADE says he wants us to talk, on the other hand, he is carrying out the project on my land without my consent,” he alleges. He says Sojobe, the chief and ESWADE have caused him to unnecessarily engage attorneys in order to protect his rights on a matter that could have been resolved peacefully. “The respondents are provoking me, they want me to engage in a physical confrontation. This honourable court has an obligation to show displeasure by punishing the respondents with costs at punitive scale,” he adds. The matter is still pending before court; however, the Times SUNDAY gathered yesterday that means were being made to resolve it out of court.