Notorious suspended attorney Zietta Janse van Rensburg unleashed a community storm when she used her podcast series to point fingers at the Mpakeni Mlegeni Community Property Association (CPA) administrator Dedré van Graan and her husband Alwyn.

In When at first you don’t succeed, the fourth episode of her Skeletons Unearthed podcast series that is hosted on Spotify, Janse van Rensburg scrutinises the CPA administrator, Dedré van Graan. In the previous episode, Racism raging beneath the waters, Janse van Rensburg focused on the Laer Kaap Irrigation Board and land claim recipients.

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In the podcast, Janse van Rensburg claims that ‘landlords’ [leaseholders] are exploiting the land owners (CPA). She accuses Van Graan’s husband Alwyn of abusing water rights and excluding black farm owners from the voting process on building a canal.

She further references the AGM of Laer Kaap Irrigation Board in October 2020 where Alwyn was replaced as chairperson and says she attended the meeting to merely ensure that the land owners had a right to vote. “I had zero influence on who they voted for.”

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When approached by the Lowvelder for comment, Alwyn said he wasn’t going to comment on Janse van Rensburg’s podcasts and insults. However, on August 3, the CPA sent a lengthy press release about the claims made in her latest podcast.

She kicks the episode off by taking a swing at Alwyn, who she claims was ousted by his peers at the irrigation board.

She then directs her attention to Dedré, accusing her of opening old wounds in November 2022 and in doing so, wasting money by plunging the ‘smooth-running’ CPA into chaos through continuous litigation and creating loss after loss.

Janse van Rensburg says Dedré orchestrated the Legal Practice Council (LPC) complaint against her while she [Janse van Rensburg] was merely doing her work and by acting on behalf of her client, Kudu Farms, the lessee of the farm.

She explains that the demolition of infrastructure on the farm, which angered the CPA, was necessary because it was allegedly in a poor state and was deemed a security risk by Kudu Farms. The homes, buildings, and a church were reduced to ruins.

Janse van Rensburg claims she stepped in to assist Kudu Farms in rectifying the situation, which led to Dedré ‘sending emails like mortar fire to everyone and anyone involved or associated with the irrigation board’.

According to Janse van Rensburg, they were challenged in court and exonerated of any wrongdoing.

Janse van Rensburg jokingly says: “Little old me, now a celebrity in person, a key figure on the Mjejane hit list, how fun. There is no money to be made in peace and resolving the actual disputes.”

Referring to the CPA’s case against her at the LPC, Janse van Rensburg says she must deal with ridiculous allegations while new complaints, which she says are ‘utter bullshit’, are made.

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The CPA in their press release states they obtained ownership of the land through land reform in 2012. The CPA’s executive represents 350 beneficiaries and their administrator was appointed through an AGM.

In reaction to the claims made, the CPA states: “In Zietta van Rensburg’s fourth podcast, she makes the statement that our administrator ‘plunged our smooth-running operations in chaos’. Our response to that is, in fact, vice versa. Since our involvement and dealings with Kudu Farms and Zietta van Rensburg as their attorney, our community is still suffering after they obtained the leases of two of our properties and in the process, secured board positions on the Laer Kaap Irrigation Board.”

The CPA says Janse van Rensburg’s statements that their administrator was responsible for ‘litigation after litigation, case after case and loss after loss’, were false. “Our administrator only handles administrative duties. We have an executive that makes decisions and implements them with signed resolutions.  We are not aware of any other court cases, other than the current one in the High Court of Mpumalanga, which is set to be heard on the 13^th of September 2024.”

Zambia Banda, secretary of the CPA, says the statement by Janse van Rensburg that ‘our complaint at the LPC was orchestrated by our administrator and that the courts already ruled over this matter’, was not true.

Banda himself filed the complaint and states: “The matter never made it to a hearing at the LPC as Zietta was already suspended.  We received a letter on the 5^th of July from the LPC informing us that the matter will no longer be investigated as she has been suspended as a legal practitioner.”

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In response to Janse van Rensburg’s statement that she attended the irrigation board’s AGM to ensure that everyone had voting rights, the CPA says: “The disputed lease agreement includes that our voting rights were ceded to Kudu Farms and that we are barred from attending irrigation board meetings.

“This is maybe why the disputed lease agreement states that no third party may see the agreement. It also took Zietta six months to give us a copy of the signed agreement and only then did the CPA notice irregularities, which are now being contested in a High Court case.”

On the demolishment of their property, the CPA says: “Kudu Farms was caught red handed demolishing 38 of our staff houses. They paid the staff members who stayed in the houses to take the frames, doors, and roofs, and relocate to another area. It was done without our consent. Each community member received an ‘invoice’ which they had to sign and relocate. Kudu Farms then erected a gate on a public road, making it impossible to have access to our farms.”

Referring to the many emails sent by their administrator, the CPA explains that numerous emails were sent to the secretary of the Laer Kaap Irrigation Board and the Kaap River Major Irrigation Board to explain their concerns.

Janse van Rensburg did not reveal who she is going to expose in her next podcast, but revealed that an entire episode would be dedicated to the person who is the topic of endless gossip. She ended with: “Stay tuned as we delve into the tale of the village bicycle. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your attorney paid.”