A pensioner is up in arms after being told by the Thulamela Municipality that he has to stop building his house, because the site on which he is building the house does not belong to him, but to someone else.

The disputed site is situated in Section D in Malamulele Township. Mr Obert Mabasa reckons he has the right to build a house here, as his wife Rose Ngobeni acquired the site in 2006.

“After acquiring the site, we paid for services. We thought everything was right and we started building. Then, unexpectedly, someone emerged and said the site belonged to his father, who had died late last year. This is surprising, because the site was undeveloped and we were the ones who paid for services,” said Mabasa.

According to Mabasa, the person who claims the site as his own is Blessing Mabasa, who said the site had been bought by his late father, Hlengani Julius Mabasa.

Rose Ngobeni, who bought the stand, said she was surprised to find that the site in question was being disputed only after the death of the rightful owner. “We have been paying every-thing to the municipality and we have receipts to this effect,” she said.

Mirror was unable to talk to Blessing Mabasa as his phone went unanswered, but the estate agent who sold the house to Ngobeni said the site belonged to Ngobeni because she had acquired the site lawfully. When she enquired about it from the municipality, they never mentioned that the site belonged to someone else.

Thulamela municipality manager Mr Makonde Mathivha said he was not aware of the matter, but said that he was ready to assist the aggrieved party if they could bring their deed of grant to prove ownership of the site. He said it was hard to intervene in a matter where parties do not have proof of ownership.

A year ago, a senior clerk at the municipality was suspended and charged with misconduct on allegations that she was involved in the fraudulent sale of unde-veloped sites in Malamulele Township. The municipality had acted after receiving a tip-off from an anonymous whistle blower. The official, however, resigned prior to appearing before the municipality’s disci-plinary committee.