FAMILIES FACING BENNETT EVICTION STARVING, CAN’T SLEEP

SIGOMBENI - “Silala benyoni, siyafa nayindlala (we hardly sleep at night and we are starving).”

These are the direct words of seven families who face imminent eviction at Sigombeni, in the Manzini Region. According to the affected families, they were being evicted by Sigombeni Enterprises (Pty) Ltd, an organisation which is owned by businessman Walter Bennett. They alleged that despite the fact that some of them acquired the land through kukhonta in 2003, the businessman allegedly came in 2011 to notify them that their homes were built on his farm. They said on August 29, 2018, each of the seven homesteads was served with a letter from the businessman and notifying them that they were expected to vacate the farm by March 27, 2019, which was yesterday. The eviction of the homesteads will see a total of 80 people, 34 elders; 28 pupils and eight minors being affected.

Furthermore, more than 50 graves will have to be dug up and the bodies exhumed. Linah Madzinane, one of the residents to be affected by the intended eviction, said since the businessman told them that their homesteads were in his farm in 2011, construction and farming of crops, including maize, were put on hold because they were told that they would be asked to vacate the farm anytime. She said his son had bought material to build his house but it was lying idle and exposed to heavy rains. “As a result, some of it is damaged to a point that it can no longer be used,” she said.  The affected community members said through relevant structures, they reported the matter to the royal kraal but by then, there was a chieftaincy dispute, which, up today was hindering progress regarding the matter.

They claimed that they even offered their cattle in the event that the royal kraal saw a need to refer the matter to His Majesty King Mswati III. However, they said because of the ongoing chieftaincy dispute, the matter was still not addressed at chiefdom level and not reported to His Majesty the King. Meanwhile, Mbhaceka Dlamini, one of the senior members of Sigombeni Royal Kraal, said they did not know anything about the farm being referred to in the matter. He said the land in which the affected homesteads were built was part of the community’s grazing area.

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