‘Land invaders’ face eviction

Twenty-four homeowners could be evicted and their homes demolished if the government wins a court battle to have them declared illegal invaders of grazing land near Dimbaza.

Among the 24 listed as respondents in court documents, are state officials ranging from police officers, prison warders, traffic officers, teachers and a former police station commander.

The state claims they are land invaders taking up grazing land for communal farmers, but the homeowners claim villagers gave them the land.

The state is forging ahead with plans to have them evicted and to demolish their houses, which are built on state land at Dikidikana Location outside King William’s Town.

Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti requested the Bhisho High Court to order the 24 homeowners to demolish their houses, which he said were illegally built on a land zoned for agriculture.

The two warring groups are set to come head to head in court on July 30 where an order will be made.

Nkwinti's department wants an order to open the door to take action against other home builders who have flaunted zoning legislation and encroached on agricultural land.

According to court papers seen by Daily Dispatch, the grounds for the group’s eviction are that they invaded and occupied land owned by the department without its consent.

The court papers further say the land in question was made available by the department to the people of Dikidikana Location as a grazing camp for their livestock.

The papers claim the land invasion has created ongoing conflict between Dikidikana residents and the homebuilders.

“The applicant has to stem lawlessness and land invaders and promote the acquisition of land in an orderly and lawful manner,” state the court documents, arguing that if the respondents were allowed to go ahead with the erection of their housing structures, it will “undermine government’s system of land acquisition”.

Dikidikana villagers spoken to during a Daily Dispatch visit to the area on Friday, said the houses on their grazing land obstructed their farming efforts.

Mandisi Saziwa, who owns more than 20 cattle, said he now has to take his livestock “far from home” to graze.

“This has created a lot of conflict in this community. The construction of these houses has inconvenienced us a lot. We always used that land for our cattle and goats, but now we have to take our livestock to faraway areas to graze.

“Its just unacceptable that people can just rock up and erect structures without obtaining the necessary permission from authorities,” Saziwa said.

One of the homeowners, Mzwakhe Kwenxe, who is a prison warder at the Middledrift Prison, confirmed owning one of the houses on the list before court but would not say more, claiming he did not want to influence the judge.

But Melikhaya Voyiya, who heads a committee representing the 24 homeowners, said government’s move was “unfair” to them.

“We are totally unhappy and we are going to fight this in court because we did not invade that land. It was given to us by people in that village and we did not know at the time that they were allocating land to us illegally.

“We thought that us acquiring that land was genuine until we were given summons informing us that it was the government land and that we were occupying it illegally,” Voyiya said.

He added the homeowners felt “victimised” by government’s plans to demolish their households.

Voyiya, who moved to the area in March last year, said he had already spent more than R180000 on building his home and that his children were now traumatised at the thought of their home being demolished.

“If the court rules in favour of the state to demolish our homes, people will lose a lot and it will be a sad day for many families here,” Voyiya added.

Minister Nkwinti could not be reached for comment. — asandan@dispatch.co.za