Protest erupts over Mataffin land case
Three Mataffin community members had been arrested for malicious damage to property following the cutting down of pecan trees on land belonging to the Mataffin Community Development Trust. A protest recently broke out when the members were due in court.
A protest broke out in the Mataffin area early on Tuesday morning, August 29, reportedly in connection with recent arrests made regarding a dispute over property next to the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency offices.
The land, Erf 4, can be seen from the R104 heading into the city, belongs to the Mataffin Community Development Trust and has been subject to ongoing issues. It recently saw three community members arrested for malicious damage to property. This followed the burning and cutting down of pecan nut trees on the land allegedly in an effort to make space for people to build houses.
A court order, issued by the Nelspruit Regional Court in March last year, prohibits six respondents (or anyone acting through them) from erecting or constructing shacks or structures of any form on Erf 4 of Mataffin. They are also interdicted from subdividing and selling pieces of land on the property. The order also instructs police members to arrest those respondents who violate the order.
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The trust’s chairperson, Ben Mabunda, had said there are two ongoing cases surrounding the land. The first is the malicious damage to property and the second relates to the breaking of the court order.
The three community members who were arrested had appeared recently in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court and were released on R1 000 bail each. The case was postponed to Tuesday, which is when the protest broke out. Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said the matter has been postponed to October 4 for further investigation.
The residents of the informal settlement woke up to the smoke of burning tyres that a group of men had used to blockade the
entry roads.
Motorists and commuters were prevented from entering or exiting the settlement until the police came to disperse the protesters and reopened the roads.
Some of them threw rocks and glass bottles on the road, but claimed this was not a service delivery protest.
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A community member who said he supported the protest, and has spoken to Lowvelder previously on the land matter, Kevin Sibuyi, said there was no reason to have people from the community arrested for wanting land.
“We just want a place to live, but they do not want us there. This land is ours and we will get it.”
He said they also want to get the trust to withdraw the case against the community members. “We want the government to build us RDP houses on that land so we can own homes while there is vacant land.”
Mabunda had previously told Lowvelder that the calls for a place to live have come from the community before, and upon receiving land, it gets sold. He did add, however, that outsiders had been involved in the past when it came to the selling of land. Mabunda recognised that the selling of land by community members comes down to a bigger problem of unemployment, however. He said they want to attempt to develop it and create opportunities for the community.
Lowvelder recently visited the land and found several people clearing the cut down trees and dividing the area with rudimentary fencing. One of the people, Maggy Kgalane, said the land belongs to the community and that she and the two other women with her, Lerato Mauku and Phodiso Sephesa, have been
beneficiaries of the trust for many years. They said they wanted a home for themselves. Mabunda, however, said the women and others on the land were in contravention of the court order.
