Headman Frank Davhana (48) of Mpheni is again embroiled in controversy, after allegedly invading Portion 26 of the farm Doornspruit 41 with the purpose of developing new stands.

Mr Mushe Makhado, who claims to be the owner of the piece of land, revealed that, towards the end of August this year, he found certain residents of Mpheni building shacks on his land. “I asked them who had given them those plots on my farm and they said that they were given the plots by Davhana after paying him certain amounts,” he alleged.

Makhado further claimed that, when he instructed the people to stop their preparations of building on his farm, they refused since they claimed to have received the authority from their headman.

“I followed all the processes of getting to the headman's kraal, but every time, my appointment was moved to another date,” he said. Makhado said that he had to get a court interdict to stop residents from building shacks on his 2,1 hectares farm. Makhado said that he bought the piece of land from a businessman from Madombidzha, who had already died.

After residents were served with the interdict, Makhado immediately began erecting a new fence. “There was a fence before this farm was invaded, but I do not know who removed it. I want to meet the headman personally, because I see no reason for us to fight over land. Since there was no discussion about compensation between myself and the headman when he invaded my farm, perhaps if we can meet, I can sell the land to him,” he said.

A close relative of the deceased who had sold the piece of land to Makhado, indicated that he could not understand why Davhana decided to develop new stands forcefully on the piece of land which is outside his territorial area. Mirror also learnt that the piece of land was already subdivided into more than five stands. When asked to comment on the matter, headman Davhana insisted that the piece of land in question does not belong to Makhado, but in fact belongs to him, as it is within his area.

“That is not his land. That area was never developed and it has been lying unused for some time. That portion is within my territorial area.” Davhana further said that he was also surprised to see Makhado erecting a new fence at the farm. “If he wants to talk with us, he must come, as we are waiting for him,” he said.

Davhana said that he could not meet Makhado without the presence of his Vhakoma, as Makhado might claim to have given him a bribe after the meeting.

Headman Frank Davhana is not new to controversy. Last year, he was arrested along with his clerk, Vincent Tambani (34), the school principal of Tshimonela and two employees of Home Affairs after they were linked to scams through which illegal immigrants were obtaining South African identity documents. Davhana was later acquitted by the court.