RESIDENTS DEMOLISH FENCING

PIGG’S PEAK – The adage, ‘when the cat is away, the mice will play’, rang true at emaZulwini around Mkhuzweni area.

While the area’s inner council members are away attending the ongoing Incwala activities, which are now in the phase of weeding royal fields, angry residents grouped up to remove fencing material and logs that had been put up around a piece of land in the area. The fencing belonged to a Dlamini family and is said to have been put up to commence construction of a house by one of the family members. However, the residents were not pleased about this. They said the area used to be part of a grazing land for livestock in the area. They said initially, the umphakatsi had demarcated the section of the land so that they could use it for livestock grazing.

Fencing

At least 30 residents grouped to remove the fencing. They were made up mostly of men with a few women watching from a distance. They removed the fence and the logs that had been erected around the piece of land. They said the fencing material had blocked a road that they had been using for many years. The angry residents said they decided to remove the fencing because the umphakatsi had allegedly allocated the land to someone who was not from the area. “We do not know this person,” they said.

Grazing

They said, instead of giving the land to locals, who did not have any, they were giving it to people from other areas. “This is supposed to be the grazing land that we sacrificed,” said a resident. A senior member of the Dlamini family who was reached for comment said he was shocked at how the residents acted. He said the person who was allocated the land was part of the family and that he was one of their children. “He just was not living in the area due to work commitments,” he said. He said the fence had been erected recently during the festive season so that construction of a house could commence. He further revealed that the matter was reported to some of the members of the umphakatsi. “We could not go to the senior members of the inner council because they are away on royal duties,” he said.

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