Armed farmers grab E2.3m RSSC farm 16/09/2014 03:00:00 by Nkululeko Gama image Armed farmers grab E2.3m RSSC farm The farmers entered the farm aka Robert Mugabe’s style, wielding axes, shovels and digging picks. Using a tractor, they started ploughing on the land already developed by the applicant (RSSC). They have literally taken over the farm and continue with their act of spoliation to date THE Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) and Vuvulane Sugar Cane farmers’ battle is far from over. The farmers are now reported to have stormed and forcefully possessed a E2.3m farm belonging to RSSC. The farmers and RSSC have been at loggerheads for a very long time now. Notwithstanding court orders and court rulings, the battle has continued without a trace of any peaceful resolution. RSSC believes some of the farms at Vuvulane belong to them and the farmers, on the other hand, saying this is not true. They say the land was handed to them by King Sobhuza II and it has been their home ever since. This has caused a fierce war which the court has failed to stop for years. RSSC and Mhlume Sugar Company have since taken 25 farmers to court demanding that they vacate the farm in question. The companies believe the farmers have committed an act of spoliation by unlawfully, wrongfully and forcefully depriving them of the possession of certain farms being Farm 10R and the Nucleus Estate Farm. The farmers are said to have forcefully taken the farm in dispute and started ploughing and cultivating same on August 27, 2014. According to an application filed by RSSC, the farmers have since blocked water canals used for irrigating the sugar cane on portion 29 of Farm 860 with sand bags to divert the water and prevent irrigation of their sugar cane fields. “The respondents (farmers) entered the farm wielding axes, shovels and digging picks. Continue “Using a tractor, they started ploughing on the land already developed by the applicant (RSSC). “They have literally taken over the farm and continue with their act of spoliation to date,” said RSSC Secretary Lungile Masango in an affidavit filed with the application in court. Masango indicated that prior to the invasion; the company had peaceful and undisturbed control of the water canals. She narrated that prior to planting sugar cane crop (on the invaded farm) RSSC had embarked on a bush clearing exercise, cross ripping, land levelling, stumps digging and removal and road construction which entailed construction of access roads to different portions of the farm. She said this phase of development was done by RSSC at a cost of E2.367m. In addition to the above, RSSC is alleged to have also embarked on land preparation, survey, stone and root removal on parts of the farm at a cost of E35 300 per hectare. “As of August 27, 2014, a vast portion of the farm had the sugar cane crop planted on it. Drip irrigation systems and equipment had also been installed underneath the ground on the cultivated portion of the farm for purposes of irrigating the newly planted sugar cane crop. “Development works were still ongoing with a lot of applicant’s employees on site hard at work in various portions of the farm when respondents invaded same and unlawfully took over,” she narrated. She alleged that the farmers held a meeting prior to the invasion, where they resolved to forcefully take over Portion 29 of Farm 860. RSSC is represented by lawyer Zweli Shabangu in the application. Farmers want to take everything from RSSC ACCORDING to RSSC Secretary Lungile Masango, the Vuvulane farmers are on a verge of taking over every farm belonging to RSSC at Vuvulane. In her affidavit in court, she stated that attempts to reason with the farmers and or to ask their attorneys to normalise the situation have failed. She indicated that even the police have failed to help, citing that unless there was a court order, they could not help. Unlawfully Masango indicated that the farmers have resolved to take the law into their own hands in an attempt to unlawfully oust them from Vuvulane and take over their operations and equipment kept therein. “They want to usurp the applicant’s investments. Mphisi Dlamini, the 6th respondent openly stated that RSSC’s investments on the farm is to be taken over by Vuvulane farmers in the same way that Mozambique was taken over by the black people in that country after the Portuguese had developed it,” she said. Mphisi is further alleged to have likened the situation to that of South Africa where he claims black South Africans took over the country and its infrastructure after the whites had developed it. Ousted He is said to be claiming the farmers are likewise taking over the developed farms from RSSC in Vuvulane. He claims that RSSC was developing the farms for the farmers. Masango prayed that unless stopped by an order of the court, the farmers would not stop their acts of spoliation and will continue until they have ousted the RSSC from all the farms it is occupying in Vuvulane and they seek to do so without resorting to lawful means. Judge stops closure of RSSC irrigation water canals HIGH Court Judge Nkululeko Hlophe granted an interim order stopping the farmers from blocking irrigation water canals supplying RSSC farms at Vuvulane. According to RSSC, the farmers used sand bags to block water running through the irrigation canal within the farm. The water canal is used by RSSC for the irrigation of the ratoon sugar cane crop on another farm. The company alleges that blocking the water running through the canal was meant to divert the water to an area where the farmers are unlawfully planting or ploughing. To ensure this, the farmers are alleged to have dug a trench or a furrow across the road constructed by RSSC such that it is no longer possible to even drive through the constructed roads for easy access to various parts of the farm. The farmers have filed a notice to oppose the application.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:21:12 +0000