By Thokozani Mazibuko
The Masundvwini Council has distanced itself from the alleged home-grabbing of an orphan that was allegedly sold for a sum of E450 000 in the Makholweni area.
According to the Council, the home was allegedly sold by umgijimi (Chief’s messenger) of the area behind their back.
The council shed this light during a meeting that was held at Masundvwini yesterday.
This came after the Council in a bid to find the underlying cause of the dispute, decided to summon the concerned parties to a meeting.
According to Masundvwini Council Secretary Sigodvo Motsa, the Masundvwini Council was not involved in the alleged selling of the home.
He highlighted that it was true that the woman who allegedly bought the home came to the Council which assisted her in undertaking the kukhonta process (a process by which an individual seeks residence in chiefdom by approaching local authorities).
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The names of the woman and umgijimi are known to this publication but they will be withheld as the matter is pending before court.
This, he said came after a certain man who used to occupy the homestead after the death of the orphan’s grandmother officially handed it over to the umphakatsi (royal kraal) on grounds that he was a sickly person, who was relocating to his children’s homestead so that they could take care of him.
He mentioned that what gave them as a council the authority to sanction the kukhonta process was that the umgijimi produced a letter from Ndabazabantu (King’s liaison officer), stating that the man who was handing it over to the umphakatsi was the rightful heir of the home.
According to Motsa after the woman had paid a cow as a sign of allegiance to the authorities of the country as per customary law, they then gave her a letter sealed with umphakatsi stamp and signature of the Chairperson of the Council Khisimusi Ndlovu.
He highlighted that the woman was led by umgijimi from Makholweni during the kukhonta process, and by the looks of things, it was possible that the umgijimi in collaboration with the man that was entrusted to look after the home allegedly sold it to the woman for a sum of E450 000 behind their backs.
He highlighted that the umgijimi never indicated to them that there was a grandson in the picture, who was the rightful owner of the home.
“Sadliswa luhlata,” which could loosely be translated to say, “We were misinformed.”
According to the residents of Makholweni who attended the meeting, a title deed or sale of agreement was then allegedly drafted by the umgijimi and the man in question and it was handed over to the woman after she had paid the amount of money.
According to the residents, it was so disturbing that the kukhonta letter from the umphakatsi was now attached to the title deed.
This, they argued, authenticated the fact that the Council was allegedly part of the sale of the home since a stamp belonging to the Umphakatsi was endorsed on the same.
They further punched holes in the sale of the agreement as they stated that according to Swati law and custom, the land was not sold under Swati Nation Land.
They, therefore, ordered the Council to withdraw the letter from the title deed as a sign that their hands were clean as far as the alleged selling of the home was concerned.
“The woman has attached the Council’s letter she obtained after undertaking kukhonta process to the title deed and by default,
this implicates the Council in the sale of the home and the unfortunate part is that she is presenting the same document in court when arguing her authentic ownership of the home,” alleged one of the residents.
In response Motsa said it would not be possible for them to withdraw the letter since it signified that the woman underwent the kukhonta process and since that was something they were aware of, it would be uncalled for, for them to withdraw the letter.
He mentioned that all they needed to do was to find common ground and reach a common agreement that indeed there was a sort of malpractice which occurred behind their backs as far as the selling of the home was concerned and then find a way in which that anomaly can be resolved.
He emphasised that all they wanted to do was to distance the Council from the alleged unscrupulous home-grabbing escapade.
Soon after Motsa had uttered such words, there was an uproar from the residents and within a twinkle of an eye, one of them stood up and frankly stated that it would not be possible for the Council to be exonerated from the matter.
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This, they said was because they have brought several cases of the same nature before the Council, which was unfortunately not taken seriously by the members of the Council.
They mentioned that this very same matter (home grabbing matter) was once reported by the aggrieved orphan on numerous occasions to the Council but he was allegedly not given a chance to state his case and as a result, the matter ended up not seeing the light of day.
Motsa apologised to the residents and further set the record straight that it was not true that they were not taking their grievances seriously but on the contrary, he said they were faced with a myriad of issues to solve, yet it was just only five of them in the Council.
He urged the residents to bear with them as it was their wish to afford all their grievances the urgency they deserved.
The Chairperson of the Inner Council Khisimusi Ndlovu emphasised that the Council was not involved in the grabbing of the home in question.
He mentioned that their hands were clean as they never took part in the selling of the home.
He mentioned that since the sale of the home did not tally with the kukhonta process that was endorsed by the Council, it was clear that the accused umgijimi sold the home behind their backs.
“The Masundvwini Inner Council is not aware of the sale of the home. What we must do now is to sit down with the orphan Bonokuhle Langa and devise ways in which we can best resolve the matter,” Ndlovu said.