A 76-year-old man cried bitterly when members of a local Zion Christian Church started “invading” his property and fencing off a portion of his site to extend the church’s yard.

A resident of Tshivhangani village in the Mulima area, Mr Joseph Nwandula, said that the ZCC branch (Selokwe Mission) was stealing his piece of land. “They are taking my land by force,” Nwandula wept. “I hold a title deed for this piece of land, but my fellow congregants, whose church is my neighbour, are extending the yard of the church into my yard.”

Joseph said that the local church leadership and the head lady of Tshivhangani village were persecuting him. “I even stopped going to church,” he said. “I won't go to the same church with people who do not have the fear of God. This church is stealing my land.”

When Limpopo Mirror arrived at the village, a group of church members who were busy erecting the fence ran away. All members who were in the church’s yard also deserted the church and shut the gate behind them. They all declined to speak to the journalist and said all queries should be directed to the Mulima Traditional Council as the correct body to distribute portions of land to people.

A group of youths assisted Nwandula to uproot all the poles and throw them over the fence into the church yard again. “If they erect their poles again, I will use a chainsaw to cut off all those poles and set them alight,” he said. “I worked very hard to clear all the trees that were here, and now they just want to occupy my land for free. No, that won't happen.”

The spokesperson for the Mulima Traditional Council, Mr Moses Raswiswi, said that the document which Nwandula held was not a title deed. “He was given written permission to use a portion of the land for private use, such as planting mealies and so on,” he said. “The piece of land in question is near his residential site. It was not titled to him.”

He added that the council had discussed Nwandula’s case on 1 April, when the land in question was given to the church. “We have decided to give that piece of land to the church,” Raswiswi said. “If Nwandula needs another space, he must come to our offices and we will see how best to help him.”

Nwandula said that, according to his understanding, the piece of land was given to him by the Mulima Traditional Council and that he saw no reason why the very council must give the same land to another party. “I worked hard clearing this land, and each year I plough (for) mealies and other veggies in summer,” he said.