The possible illegal selling of stands by the civic association of Maniini is becoming a huge controversy in the area and another person is crying foul after an alleged illegal deal.

In last week’s edition, we published a story about the Vele family of Maniini village, near Thohoyandou, who claim that the local civic association has secretly sold their stand to make way for someone else. Shortly after the publication of the article, another young man from Maniini called Mirror to make the same claim.

Lucky Mavhungu (22) commonly known as Maduka, claims his one-roomed house was sold by the civic association without his knowledge late last year. He claims the site was sold to someone who has already started building a modern house. The stranded unemployed young man says he is now forced to live with his aunt because he has nowhere to stay.

“I think they did this to me because they know no one would speak for me as I do not have parents. I know God speaks for the voiceless and their works will never go unchallenged.”

Mavhungu says he wants his stand back despite the fact that someone has already started building a house on it. “All I need is my stand back. I am even prepared to die for it, because it belongs to me. The civic associa-tion has no right to sell my site without my knowledge. I will never rest until this matter is resolved to my satisfaction,” said the fuming Mavhungu.

He said he legally acquired the stand from the local headman in 1996. “I was even allocated a stand number, which is 194. Who are they to sell the stand without my permission?”

Mavhungu says trouble started when another wall of his one-roomed house fell due to heavy rains. “I decide to stay with my aunt temporarily while at the same time saving money to rebuild my house. To my surprise, I realized that someone had fenced off my stand and destroyed the remains of my one-roomed house without my approval. This is exploitation at its worst, but I will never stop demanding my stand because it was taken from me in a crooked manner.”

When asked for comment, the Secretary of Maniini Civic Association, Tshililo Muditambi, referred the matter to the Maniini Land Matters Committee. Humbulani Makwarela of the Maniini Land Matters Committee refuted Mavhungu ‘s claims and said correct measures to allocate the stand to someone else were followed. He said Mavhungu occupied the stand illegally and he was mercifully given enough time to pay for its registration at the municipality.

“Every stand owner has to pay R2 745 to register his stand since this is regarded as an urban area. We asked him to pay a deposit of R600 so that he could have the rights to occupy the stand legally, but he did not co-operate. We also called him to several meetings to address the issue but he did not turn up. When serious people who want somewhere to stay come to us, we first look at the people who are occupying the sites illegally. Mavhungu was one of them and that is why his stand was allocated to someone else to build on. We also promised to allocate him an alternative stand, but he is not cooperative.”

Makwerela said Mavhungu is a fortune seeker who wants to make money out of the stand. “The stand did not even belong to him. It belonged to his grandmother and he wanted to sell it to someone else. Now that his plans are foiled, he starts complaining to the media.”