South Africa: Mpumalanga Traditional Leader Sold Plots On Land He Didn’t Own

Court orders eviction at the request of Thembisile Hani Local Municipality

• The Middelburg High Court has ruled against a traditional leader who sold off stands on municipal land.
• Judas Mahlangu has been selling stands on land belonging to Thembisile Hani Local Municipality for years, for about R2,500 each.
• Hundreds have been sold and many houses have been built.
• The municipality applied for an eviction.
• The court ruled that Mahlangu, who does not live there himself, had acted in bad faith and that those living there must leave.
• An appeal is pending.

A Mpumalanga municipality is fighting in court against a traditional leader who took over municipal land and sold pieces of it to people to build houses on.

The battle between Thembisile Hani Local Municipality and traditional leader Judas Mahlangu has been dragging on for five years.

Mahlangu, leader of the Ndzundza-Mabhoko Traditional Authority, has been selling off stands on municipal land for at least R2,500 each since 2018. The area, known as Magadangana Village, has no running water, electricity or road maintenance. The people who bought stands from him now face eviction as the municipality has won the first and second rounds of its legal tussle against Mahlangu.

Spokesperson for Thembisile Hani Local Municipality Simphiwe Mokako said the municipality had found out in June 2019 that stands on municipal land known as Vlaklaagte farm were being unlawfully allocated to members of the community. The land had been designated for housing development. The municipality went to court, and on 18 February 2022 the Middleburg High Court interdicted Mahlangu and another man, Johannes Jiyane, from allocating stands. By then 175 sites had been “allocated”.

The municipality went back to court against Mahlangu, Jiyane and those living on the land. On 9 January 2024 Judge Mpopelele Bruce Langa ordered them to leave by the end of April. An appeal is pending, according to Mokako.

In his judgment, Langa said Mahlangu, Jiyane and the others had occupied the properties without the municipality’s consent and had therefore “invaded” the land.

He said Mahlangu had claimed to be the traditional owner of the property through a land claim and restitution of lost rights process and that the “land belongs to the people”. But he had not filed any evidence to prove this, either in the form of a court order or written notice by the Regional Land Claims Commissioner.

Mahlangu had also said the municipality should have consulted him over the proposed housing and claimed a “veto right” over the development. The judge said this “is not only misplaced but it is also a manifestation of the arrogance of the entitlement with which they have approached and dealt with this matter right from the start”.

He said when Mahlangu and Jiyane had occupied the land they had acted in bad faith and had taken the law into their own hands.”They took over the property well aware that they were not the owners of the property and are therefore not entitled to allocate and demarcate them to other people as they did.”

“This was not a case of landless and desperate people invading land,” said the judge, pointing out that both Mahlangu and Jiyane had houses elsewhere.

They had continued allocating land though they were aware of the court order interdicting them from doing so.

They had claimed that the properties were mostly occupied by women and children, but had not shown this to be the case, the judge said. An inspection ordered by the municipality had found eight men, two women and a child.

“It would appear that only a few people may be rendered homeless by the eviction”, Langa said.

He said in any case the municipality had offered to find accommodation elsewhere for those who needed it.

The judge said the development of the land would be of benefit to local communities and was being blocked by the occupation, and he granted the eviction order, with costs.

Unaware of the case

When GroundUp visited Magadangana Village on 13 July, there were more than 200 complete brick houses and shacks. Some of the shacks were broken and abandoned.

Cebisa Hlatshwayo told GroundUp that he bought his stand from Mahlangu more than two years ago for R2,500. He said he built a ten-roomed house for his family after he was retrenched in 2020 from a private college, where he worked as a sales executive.

He lives with his ten-year-old son and battles with no electricity or water. He buys 1,000 litres of water for R600.

He said he was aware of the court case but did not know the details.

Hlatshwayo said Jiyane works with Judas Mahlangu at the Ndzundza Mabhoko Traditional Authority, but did not say what position he occupies.

Another resident, Jackie Mahlangu told GroundUp that he had bought a stand from a friend in January last year for R8,000 and intended to build a six-roomed house. The friend had bought it from Mahlangu for R2,500 and had put up a shack, which had been damaged by wind.

“We went to Mahlangu to transfer the ownership to my name. I will soon visit the office of the municipality to find out more about that judgment. But I will continue to build my house and hope that we will not be evicted.”

Another resident, Thoko Mabena, said she and her husband also bought a stand from Judas Mahlangu in 2018.

“We spent R2,500 on the stand and built a five-roomed house,” said Mabena.

“Mahlangu told us that this land would soon be formalised and we would get all the services. Mahlangu must explain why he occupied this land unlawfully and sold us stands. I am shocked to hear that we might be evicted.”

Judas Mahlangu admitted to GroundUp in a telephonic interview on 13 July that he had sold the stands but refused to reveal the price.

“Yes, I sold them stands. But that one [the amount] I cannot reveal. It is a secret,” said Mahlangu.

He refused to answer further questions.

GroundUp sent questions by email to the Ndzundza Mabhoko Traditional Authority on 16 July to request comment from Jiyane and the authority, but they did not respond.