Court provides interim relief for farmers in land rights case

A MPUMALANGA court has granted two brothers temporary relief, allowing limited grazing on a piece of land whose ownership is disputed, arguing that their claim to the land was ignored.

- NICOLA MAWSON

The judge said that the two brothers “were excluded from a statutory process through no fault of their own”. The court found that interim relief was justified because the state failed to process the Mnisi claim alongside that of 93-year-old Kuyiti Nkambule's claim. Nkambule was granted the land under a 2022 court-approved settlement to graze cattle.

According to the ruling in the Mnisi case, the Registrar of Deeds as well as the Land Reform and Rural Development Department must investigate the Mnisi brothers’ claim to rights over a part of a farm in Mpumalanga.

It also stated that the registrar must register a caveat over part of a property in Komatidraai, restricting transfer or sale of the property “pending the finalisation of the applicants’ labour tenant claim”.