MANIINI - A major row is brewing between Thohoyandou Block L Civic and the headman of Maniini over land issues.

This became apparent during a meeting held at Maniini on Sunday where the civic disclosed that Headman Mmbi was selling the land to outsiders, without the Civic and Mphaphuli Territorial council's consent.

It is alleged that the headman sold portions of the land to two contractors for R2 000 and R6 000 respectively without having consulted with the Civic and Chief Mphaphuli. The Civic is also claiming that the headman is also selling stands without the owners' consent or after consultation with Thulamela Municipality.

According to the Civic, the headman does not respect their leadership and he does not want to give the civic the respect it deserves.

According to the civic, at one stage the headman was invited to a meeting to address residents on development issues. It is said the headman left the meeting earlier as he was allegedly not happy about the manner in which the meeting was being run by the civic.

According to a source, since that day, the relationship between the civic, residents and the headman is in balance. It is alleged that the headman does not want to see development taking place at Block L, because he feels residents of Block L also do not respect him as their leader.

According to Mr Thomas Muhanelwa, chairperson of the civic, they are unable to work together with the headman because of a number of issues. He said he did not expect the headman as a leader and a father to stop government officials from giving residents of Block L mosquito chemicals. He said the civic had to fight for the chemicals for the Block L people.

Muhanelwa said at one stage, the civic sent a delegation to meet Chief Mphaphuli to discuss the problems at Maniini. He said Chief Mphaphuli sent people to address them and things looked very normal from that day, earlier this year, when the headman showed his willingness to work with the civic.

The Headman was not available for comment on the issue.