HA-MASHAU – The Mashau Royal Council last week approached the newspaper to clear the air and distance themselves from the “false statement” that they were attempting to invade the SAPECO-owned Mambedi River Estate last month to develop stands.

“We never attempted to invade SAPECO as it was reported in the Zoutpansberger. It is true that we went to an unused piece of land, which is adjacent to the river estate, to develop new stands. This land, however, has traditionally been the property of the Mashau people.”

These were the words of the secretary of the Mashau Royal Council, Mr Tshinyalani Mackson Mashau. He said that, for the past 27 years, the piece of land was just lying there unused. Since SAPECO pulled out of the tea estate two years ago, Mr Niel McLeod has been acting as caretaker of the farm.

“Nobody at Ha-Mashau can invade SAPECO or threaten McLoed and his people. We are good individuals who have lived with the SAPECO owners for years without any differences,” he said. Asked if residents had driven their large herd of cattle onto the farm for grazing as claimed by McLeod, Mashau said: “Mr Macleod is charging our residents R6,50 per head of cattle for grazing on the unused piece of land every month. As the Royal Council, we cannot allow people to take their cattle onto the SAPECO property. In the past, cattle used to graze on that piece of land for free.”

Musanda Vho TRV Mashau said that his people are congested in their households and that they realised that the unused piece of land could offer a solution.

“I decided to develop new stands for my people, who are desperately looking for plots. As they are poor, they need to build houses. I wanted them to build during winter.” SANCO’s branch chairperson at the village, Mr Patrick Mafuna, said. “When people cross over the tea estate, McLeod asks them for a permit. We need an urgent solution to this matter because certain people seem to be clinging to something which is already dead,” he said. Mafuna describes the restriction of residents’ moving across the privately owned farm as an “insult.” He said that he is going to engage the MEC for Agriculture, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, and SAPECO’s owners in a fact-finding solution on the matter. The secretary of the royal council, who agreed that they had removed the boundary stakes which they had planted after the intervention of the police, indicated that, as the Royal Council, they would send a letter to the various parties, and especially the MEC.

The Royal Council continues to deny any wrongdoing by staking of stands in the piece of unused land. They defend their actions by saying that, although they do not have the title deed to the piece of land, the land belongs to them as they were removed from it by the previous regime.

In response to the Royal Council statement, Mr Niel McLeod said that the piece of land belongs to SAPECO.

“This is a land claim issue and it need to be resolved through the regional land claims commissioner,” he said.