MBABANE – The Eluhlendlweni Inner Council has been fined 86 cattle for allocating homesteads on grazing land.
The Land Management Board imposed the penalty last Wednesday, prompting complaints from council members who described it as excessive. One member, who requested anonymity, argued that the council was being punished for land allocations made years ago, some of which were carried out by people who had since died.
He said the chiefdom had been without a chief for over 50 years, complicating its traditional leadership arrangements.
“Tsine sesifele netono tabo,” he said. The member also questioned how the Board expected the council to pay the fine within three months.
He said cattle were expensive and that the deadline left members with little time to raise the required number.
“The people are very angry with this harsh fine,” he said.
According to the member, the board imposed penalties on different groups within the traditional leadership structure.
He said the Emalangeni were fined the equivalent of 16 cattle, while the indvuna was fined five.
Individual inner council members were fined two cattle each, while each of the imisumpe was fined one.
The member said the combined penalties amounted to 86 cattle.
He also questioned the justification for the penalty, claiming that fewer than 60 cattle currently grazed on the disputed land.
He argued that the fine was excessive, comparing it with penalties imposed for adultery, which he claimed were less severe.
The member further attributed some of the land allocation disputes to the implementation of luhleliso, a community land development planning exercise introduced in the early 1980s.
He claimed that residents had not been adequately educated about the exercise and its implications for land use. “We were supposed to be taught about it,” he said.
The member also questioned why Eluhlendlweni had received a heavier penalty than other chiefdoms accused of similar land allocation offences.
He cited Sigangeni, where the Land Management Board fined the inner council about 44 cattle for allocating homesteads on communal grazing land.
The Board has also intervened at Siphocosini, ordering an immediate halt to construction near cattle dip tanks and the removal of homesteads allocated on grazing land.
The interventions form part of the Board’s action against traditional authorities accused of allocating land reserved for communal grazing.
Land Management Board Chairman Petros Mavimbela, responding to the Eluhlendlweni complaints, urged dissatisfied council members to approach the Board directly.
He said the Board was available to clarify its decisions and address complaints about penalties.
Mavimbela said council members should seek assistance from the Board rather than rush to the media.
