New twist in R1 land deal

2008-06-16 14:15

Gcina Ntsaluba

Nelspruit - Defiant Mpumalanga authorities are reportedly trying to bulldoze through the illegal sale of 118 hectares of prime development land on which the province's R1bn 2010 World Cup stadium is being built.

Government lawyers ignored threats of interdicts and public protests on Friday and proceeded with an application to transfer ownership of the land into the name of the Mbombela local municipality, which sits in the capital of Nelspruit.

The land was originally owned by the poor Matsafeni community of farmworkers, but was secretly and illegally sold to the municipality last year for just R1.

National land minister Lulama Xingwana and the National Land Claims Commission have both warned that the sale is illegal, because the land was given to the Matsafeni Trust as part of a R62m land reform project - and cannot therefore be resold without her express written permission.

Lawyers for the Matsafeni community, led by international human rights attorney Richard Spoor, have also pointed out that the sale took place in violation of the trust deed and without the necessary community approvals.

They successfully convinced the Pretoria High Court to remove the trustees responsible for the sale, and to place the trust under administration pending a full forensic investigation.

Mbombela's city manager Khayalihle Mpungose said on Friday, however, that his lawyers were transferring ownership of the land into the municipality's name regardless of protests by the Matsafeni or a signed agreement by Mpumalanga's cabinet to renegotiate the deal.

"We are certainly going ahead with the transfer ... and are prepared to fight this in court if (the community) or anyone else is determined to stop us," he said.

'A blatant violation'

"We believe the original sale (for R1) was valid, and that the mandate given to our attorneys to transfer ownership into our name is therefore also valid."

The defiance is an about-face on promises made in a four-page memorandum of understanding concluded between Mbombela and the Matsafeni community in April - an agreement signed by Mpungose along with three Mpumalanga cabinet members.

The memorandum recognises that government has begun building a R1bn stadium, using taxpayer money, on the Matsafeni land before actually taking legal ownership. It also recognises that there are serious legal questions around the original sale of the land for just R1, and stipulates that Mbombela should negotiate a new and fairer sales agreement with the Matsafeni.

The memorandum further stipulates that Mbombela should enter into a separate agreement with the Matsafeni pledging to consult more widely with the community and to deal only with the community's elected and properly recognised leadership.

Mpungose declined to say on Friday whether the municipality had started negotiations yet with the Matsafeni, or whether it was prepared to pay more than just R1 for ancestral land that the community had spent years fighting to reclaim from its apartheid owners.

"We view Mbombela's actions this week as a blatant violation of the memorandum. The attempt to transfer ownership of this land, in the face of all the evidence, is clearly illegal. We have written to the Registrar of Deeds warning not to accept the transfer and are preparing to go to the High Court to interdict the municipality," said Spoor on Friday.

"This is a fight that Mbombela simply cannot win - neither legally nor morally. How will they explain to the world that government is using its muscle to steal land from the poor, so they can host the 2010 World Cup."

Spoor has also threatened initiate action to dis-bar any of the conveyancers who handles the matter while knowing that the original sale was illegal.

- African Eye