Neighbours war over access road in Esinembe

A feud between two neighbouring Esinembe farmers over the use of an access road has sparked court orders, sneaky sabotage and angry protests.

Neighbours Nic Jordan and Thina Moodley have been going head to head for over a year after Moodley denied Jordan and his staff use of the only access road to his farm.

Jordan is a well known local figure as the owner of Holla Trails and Living Earth Compost and Lawn Suppliers.

Despite a high court interdict preventing Moodley from closing off the gravel road in the middle of both farms, Jordan and his staff have often found themselves locked out and unable to make their way to his sugarcane farm.

Pent-up anger and a year’s worth of frustration saw about 20 of Jordan’s staff protest outside the locked gates leading to the access road two weeks ago. They were once again told by security that they would not be allowed in. The staff said that enough was enough.

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One of Jordan’s employees, Fakazile Zulu, who lives on the farm property said their lives were regularily inconvenienced ever since Moodley came into the picture last year.

“I was once coming home from Chatsworth around 6pm and I could not get in. The security guard at the gate told me that Mr Moodley instructed him to not allow anyone in.”

Zulu said other staff were also stopped at the gate when they were going to work in the morning and prevented from leaving at night.

Jordan told the Courier that tensions between him and his neighbour began when Moodley bought the farm last March and blocked off the road. He said he did not encourage his staff to protest and was not on the farm at the time it happened.

“I have no registered right of way to this farm but I have been living here for 41 years and my staff and I need to use this road as it is the only way to get to my farm.

“We also ensured that it was maintained and graded but Moodley stopped us from doing that last year.

“He put up gates and denied us use of the road. The matter had to be taken to the Durban High Court which ordered him to not lock those gates and that we should be allowed to use the road at all times. Since then, he has not been adhering to the court order as sometimes my staff are not able to get in because either there is no one to open the gate or it is locked.

“If not that, then he finds ways to sabotage the road out of spite by digging up trenches that even my van struggles to get over. This is a huge inconvenience to my workers with smaller cars because even if they want to use the road, they cannot.”

When visiting the farm recently, the Courier came across about five trenches being dug across the access road under Moodley’s supervision. Moodley and his wife, who threatened to sue the Courier in the event of an article being printed, refused to comment saying that it was being handled in court.

He, however, explained that he was interdicted to not lock the gates leading to the road, but that there was no court order stopping him from digging trenches. He said this was being done to prevent soil erosion.

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