- Inkosi Shukulase Shezi says he is willing to die for his clan’s land after Nkandla Municipality demolished seven houses last week.
- Businessman Mfundo Gamede says the municipality destroyed his property and left his tenants homeless, with the matter returning to court in February.
Inkosi Shukulase Shezi of the Shezi clan in Nkandla told his community on Saturday that he is willing to die for the land.
Shezi spoke after he conducted a walk about where the houses were demolished. He says he wants to die like his great great grandfather Inkosi Sgananda Shezi kaZokufa.
Inkosi Sgananda Shezi died in June 1906 in the Nkandla jail after surrendering to colonial forces during the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion.
“I am willing to die like my grandfather for this land. I can’t watch the municipality seizing our land from our forefathers,” said Shezi.
“How could you demolish the houses where people even have the receipt of payment that they indeed got the land from me as the traditional leader of this clan.”
“I am willing to take a bullet for this land. I can’t allow the institution that was started in 1996 when our land was already there. I’m furious and I am going to tell my ancestors that I’m going to the war and I might join them if they kill me,” said Shezi.
The municipality claims that they got a court order which allows them to demolish the houses because this is their land.
The demolition happened on Wednesday at ward 11, at Mthiyakho village. The municipality sent demolition machines to destroy people’s property.
People were screaming and praying while watching their houses being demolished by the municipality.
Businessman Mfundo Gamede says his property was destroyed and his tenants had nowhere to go.
“I bought this land from the traditional leadership of the Shezi clan. It was all done through proper processes of getting a stand of land in rural areas under traditional leadership authority in 2017,” said Gamede.
“I was shocked when the municipality sent a letter of eviction to my father whilst the land is owned by me not my father.”
“I took the matter to my lawyers, then on Wednesday while I was away, they came and demolished my business property and left my tenants in the cold weather without anywhere to go,” said Gamede.
Gamede says he has since taken the matter to his lawyers to seek a court interdict order to save those neighbours whose property have not yet been demolished.
About seven houses were demolished out of 52 households in the village.
There is a dispute over the Shezi clan land with the municipality which started in 2016.
The municipality claims that the land belongs to them while the traditional leadership of the Shezi clan is fighting, saying that this is the land of their forefathers.
Gamede said the matter is in court and is expected to return in February. He says the court ordered that there must be no new property building until the matter is resolved.
Pictured above: The land dispute between the Shezi clan and the Nkandla Municipality led to the demolition of people’s properties.
Image source: Supplied
