Protest to demand electricity on farm

A group of about 100 people took to the Helpmekaar Road last Friday morning to stage a service delivery protest. They were demanding electricity on the Lombardskop Farm.

The protesters blocked the road with rocks, tree branches and burning tyres. Broken glass was also strewn across the road.
The problem is that the farm known as Lombardskop is privately owned. The original owner sold the farm to an estate and the current owner bought the farm from the estate without knowing that people were living on the land. The tenants on the farm claim they paid the original owner for their individual pieces of land to stay on. They claim they have receipts to prove this. However, no title deeds were obtained when these transactions were carried out.

If land is privately owned, the municipality cannot provide services such as water, sanitation, housing and electricity. The owner, by law, has the right not to allow any provision of services on his / her farm. Those who staged the protest, however, are adamant that they have their receipts of ownership and therefore deserve basic services such as electricity.

When the number of households increased in the area, the municipality intervened by creating an assessment for the purpose of voting registration. Many issues were raised by the community, with provision of electricity being high on the list. Eskom was prepared to budget for the area of Nhlalakahle and that’s when the land was found to be privately owned. The new owner is prepared to sell the farm at a reasonable price to the Department of Land Affairs, and Emnambithi/Ladysmith Municipality has requested the Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) to facilitate the purchase process.

During previous years, according to Communications Manager Mr Siyabonga Maphalala, political opportunism emerged within the community and the provision of electricity and the purchasing of the farm was politicised. The community was misled into electing a community committee without municipal representatives. This committee was introduced to the municipality and the municipality was requested to step aside from assisting with the matter. The committee is now nowhere to be found, hence the recent protest.

Mayor Vincent Madlala visited the area on Friday morning last week and addressed the community. Providing clarity on the matter, he reaffirmed that the municipality will work co-operatively with Land Affairs and CoGTA in the purchasing of the farm and warned the community not to be misled. According to Mr Maphalala, the situation is back to normal and the Municipal Human Settlements Department has been delegated to attend to the matter urgently. He says that all municipal matters should be brought to the attention of council in future to avoid protests. These protests are usually are carried out on roads, which causes traffic delays and possible damage to vehicles.