Tlokweng land dispute deadline looms

Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday July 2, 2014 08:00

 

At a meeting addressed by the land board on Monday, it emerged that two weeks after the Land Tribunal ordered the removal of the fence on the property, the family and the church had not done anything. 

The Tribunal had given the church and the family 30 days to remove the fence.

The land board called the meeting to update residents and other stakeholders on the progress made after the Tribunal’s hearing. Land board officials said the church and the family had been invited to the meeting, but failed to attend.

Tlokweng Land Board chairperson, Thuso Bogatsu said the family has not indicated that it will appeal the Tribunal’s decision and the Board expects that the fence will be removed by the said date.

Bogatsu further said it was necessary to update members of the public on what transpired in court as many were still complaining about the fence, within which some are enclosed.

“As the order specifically said, we will use our resources to remove the fence that has inconvenienced a lot of people. However, we will only do so when the time is right so as not to violate the court order,” Bogatsu said.

Quizzed on the church’s standing, Bogatsu said as far as they are concerned the church is operating illegally as it has not been allocated the plot by the relevant authorities.

“The case with the church is a unique one and it will be determined by the substantive matter regarding the disputed land. That is still before the courts,” he said.

“We did not move to question the structure of the church erected on the disputed land, as we still have a case before court to determine that.”

The land board chair said the reason why they chose to tackle the fence’s removal first was because it was inconveniencing a lot of people. He further added that it was erected in violation of a court order of 2010 that stated that the disputed land should not be developed by anyone except government.

Two weeks ago the Land Tribunal ruled in favour of the land board and ordered the fence’s removal, following an urgent application.

The court ordered the family to remove the fence within 30 days or be fined P5,000 for failing to do so. The family will also have to cover costs if the land board is forced to remove the fence on its own.

The erection of the fence enclosed about 70 residents, marking a new low in the long-running dispute over the two square kilometre piece of land.