THOHOYANDOU - The long battle involving the Thulamela Municipality, the headman of Mbaleni Village, Mr G Mphaphuli and the Mbaleni Civic Association over the allocation of stands at Makwarela Extension 3 was finally laid to rest in the Venda High Court last Thursday.

The area was originally earmarked for the erection of RDP houses. For some reason the project did not materialise and the piece of land was taken back by the Thulamela Municipality.

Realising that the Department of Land and Housing was no longer going to erect the houses in the area, the Mbaleni Civic Association started to demarcate the sites and allocate them to the people whom they deemed fit.

The local headman, Mr G Mphaphuli, apparently felt that that was an indication of insubordination on the part of the Civic Association as, according to him, the association was not the appropriate structure to allocate the stands.

He decided instead to do the job on his own. This resulted in conflict between the headman and the civic association. On the other hand the Thulamela Municipality was up in arms against the allocation of stands by the headman and the civic association. Their argument was that they are the only competent body to do the allocation of sites as the piece of land belonged to them.

This resulted in the municipality following the legal route in a bid to stop the two structures from going on with their exercise. The matter was tabled for April 23 in the Venda High Court where it was postponed to last Thursday, May 2.

Erwee Attorneys represented headman Mphaphuli while Mr Lufuno Mathobo of the Mathobo Rambau Sigogo firm represented the Thulamela Municipality. The civic association was represented by its chairperson, Mr MR Madida.

The court ruled that the municipality was the only competent body to do the allocation of stands. The association was interdicted from allocating the stands while the headman was made to sign an undertaking in which he agreed that he would never continue with his forbidden work.

Mr Lufuno Mathobo of the Mathobo Rambau Sigogo Attorneys told Mirror that they have already been instructed by their client, Thulamela Municipality, to serve the people who have already occupied the illegally allocated stands with the notices to evacuate.