Land squabbles get farmer’s goat – literally
He added that he has also had to put up with animals grazing on his land, damaging the grass.
SOUTH Coast farmers are still struggling to keep squatters and trespassers off their land.
On Tuesday, SABC 2 TV crew visited Len Pienaar’s farm near Gamalakhe to investigate alleged illegal squatting on his farm.
The crew was also accompanied by the SAPS and members of AfriForum. On arrival they noticed that there were goats grazing illegally on Mr Pienaar’s land.
“The goats were taken to a kraal on Mr Pienaar’s farm for safekeeping. The owner, who had to pay a fine for the goats to be released, said he would not let his goats graze on Mr Pienaar’s farm again without prior permission,” said AfriForum’s Chris Fourie.
Mr Pienaar said that for the past eight years he has had to put up with people from Gamalakhe township cutting his R480 000 fence and taking shortcuts across his land to get to Margate or Uvongo.
He added that he has also had to put up with animals grazing on his land, damaging the grass.
He farms instant lawn, but soccer players regularly carve out a pitch on his land. Once the pitch is ruined, they move on to the next piece of land.
He also revealed that he once lost a R200 000 order because he could not supply enough lawn because it had been ruined.
Mr Pienaar was among the 27 South Coast farmers to beat off the land claim bid by the Mavundla Tribal Authority.
The farmers won the case at the Land Claims Court in 2010 with various respondents, including the KwaZulu-Natal Land Claims Commissioner, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform and Inkosi Mavundla being ordered to pay their costs.
Until this day, the money hasn’t been paid to the farmers.
Jimmy Mnguni, chairman of the land claim executive group for Chief Mavundla, said it had not received official documents about the case from the Land Reform Department.
“The farmers and community need to sit down and clarify the borders with a surveyor,” he said.
