LENA FEATURE BY

NTSOTISENG RALENGAU

       Residents of Ha Shelile, Phomolong, Semphetenyane and Qoaling in the Maseru district who are said to have settled in places set for development, have sworn that they will move from their sites dead, not alive.

            There is no one who will move us from here, unless someone could come with a caterpillar and remove us but that person should be a dwarf, not a human being, one of them said.

            Over 200 residents in these areas have been asked to vacate their sites by the Lands Survey and Physical Planning (LSPP) as they have settled in the area set for development. The residents however indicate that they will not move from their sites until they have been shown where they should go.

            At Ha Shelile, the disputed area starts from the Sehlabaneng hill and ends at Mokhoabong. Already here is a Roman Catholic Church (RCC), Likotsi Primary School, the International Pentecostal Church (IPCC) and four shops that include a glass works at this area. The residents have also made boreholes for water communally and individually.

            Ha Shelile village is situated in a very wide valley, and it goes upwards to the Sehlabaneng hill. Most of the houses in this area are new, some have been built with expensive bricks and cut stone. Somewhere in the village runs the road to Qoaling, which separates the site not allocated for development and the one set for development. 

            One resident, a woman in her 40’s, who was with an old man in his late 60’s, who had gone to fetch water from the tap said  we will not move from here until we are told  where we should go, otherwise, we will rather die.

Responsible officers of the LSPP could not comment because the matter is in court.

However, the Prosecutor working on the case, Ms Thembile Dlangamandla said 252 residents of Ha Shelile and other villages alongside the Maseru By-pass are charged with contravention of section 87 of Land Act no 17 of 1979, as amended by Order no 23 of 1989.

She said they are charged for occupying land without proper authority, adding that 192 of these cases have been remanded.

         The Land Act of 1979 shows that land in Lesotho is vested absolutely and irrevocably in the Basotho Nation and is held by the State, as a representative of the Nation.

According to the Act, as a corollary to the principle, no person, other than the State, shall hold any title to land except as provided for under customary law or under this Act.

          It further shows that no person shall be capable of holding a title to land except, a citizen of Lesotho, the holder of a permit for indefinite sojourn granted under section six of the Aliens Control Act of 1966, or a Company incorporated or registered under the companies Act of 1967 and carrying on business in Lesotho and of which a majority share-holding of at least 51 percent is, and remains, at all times in the hands of citizens of Lesotho.

It adds that other holders should be a company incorporated or registered under the companies Act of 1967 and carrying on business in Lesotho of which a majority share holding is held by non-citizens of Lesotho, but only in relation to land held by such company at the commencement of this Act and a corporation established under Lesotho law.

The Act says other holders should be a partnership of which the majority of the partners are citizens of Lesotho, cooperative societies, friendly societies and any society of body of persons, other than a company or partnership, registered under the societies Act of 1966 and Commonwealth or foreign governments or public international organisations for purposes relevant to activities approved by the government of Lesotho or to their missions in Lesotho, subject to the approval of the Minister.

           As to what was actually happening in the area of Ha Shelile, the Headman of the village, Chieftainess ‘Mamokhethi Shelile said in 1999, people from the Maseru City Council (MCC) arrived at her home saying the purpose of their visit was to register the sites allocated in the fields and the owners of the fields.

            She said these people indicated that the reason was that there was a plan to develop the area by installing electricity and constructing roads. They further said in order to make this plan a reality, some of the people who fall under the area to be developed should be removed.

            So as to tell the residents about this plan, she said, these people showed that they would come back to hold a public gathering for the residents but they never returned.

            This year, Chieftainess Shelile said people from the Land Survey and Physical Planning (LSPP) arrived at the village, but they did not report themselves to the chief. She said they only went to the residents and registered their names.

            The residents were then charged for occupying land without proper authority and they in turn marched to Parliament and the Ministry of Home Affairs to present a petition demanding to know where they would be resettled when they are removed from their village.

            In the meantime, the courts had started to do their job.

      In July, a resident of Ha Shelile, Kalinyane Shelile (53) was sentenced to five years imprisonment or to pay a fine of M5000 after he was found guilty of improperly allocating sites in his fields.

            According to the crown prosecution, Shelile had contravened Section 87 of Land Act N0 17 of 1979 by offering sites at his fields and selling it to other residents without proper authority and documents and this resulted in land encroachment.

            Meanwhile, some people are of a view that the act should be amended.

In a public gathering held at Matelile in Mafeteng, residents told the Land Policy Review Commission to amend the land act of 1979 and not to form a new land policy.

They said that it is not necessary to establish a land policy because the law enforcers are not able to apply the rules concerning the Act.

            They encouraged the government to meet people halfway especially those who own fields but are unable to utilise them in order to enable them to produce food and reduce poverty in their respective areas.

            About the reserved pastures, they said they should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture since the public do not respect the chiefs and members of the Village Development Councils (VDC) as they continue to destroy pastures regardless of legal measures taken against them.

            One of them, Mr Telang Molomo said the inheritance should be shared equally among children to avoid conflicts caused by inheritors who do not share with their  younger  brothers and sisters.

            He said residential sites should be well planned to allow other residents to have enough space for housing.

            But, other people see it differently.

            In the Butha-Buthe district, the heads of departments were in favour of the new land policy and had an opinion that implementation of the Land Policy would be a solution to all problems concerning land disputes.

            In a meeting held at the District Secretary’s office in May, the Secretary of the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Butha-Buthe, Mrs. ‘Mathabang Linake said the Land Policy would resolve all problems related to land.

            Mrs. Linake said Land Policy will also help in equal rights of land for the benefit all the Basotho people.

            The Deputy District Secretary, Mrs. ‘Maitumeleng Makhebesela said Land Policy should also solve problems of graveyards.

            When giving the background of what has been happening to the people who are alleged to have resided in the places of development, the Information Officer for LSPP, Mr Ts’itso Rampuku said in March, 1996 a follow-up public gathering was held at Lepereng/Mathokoane to make people who have resided in the area that it was very wrong for them to do so because that land belonged to the government.

            He said this was done with the purpose of stopping those who wanted to build houses there, as well as those who were already building houses, so that if possible, the government would see how they could be compensated.

            Each of these people, he added, were also given letters that were put under their doors where there were no people in the house, together with public announcements over the radio that they were doing the wrong thing, but they never listened.

            Mr Rampuku indicated that a follow-up public gathering was held by the LSPP, MCC, Ministry of Sport and Culture and the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), but people continued to build more houses at the site.

            What is their fate?

The Magistrate court for the district of Maseru issued a Court Order on September 11, ordering that eight residents be objected forthwith from the premises at Lepereng/Mathokoane more precisely known as site number 13291-003 Maseru Urban Area as appear on Chief Surveyor Plan.

            The eight are part of the 21 residents of the same area whose case is still pending in the magistrate court.

            This shows that the issue needs all sectors concerned to sit together and decide how best citizens could benefit from the land, which the 1979 act states “ is vested absolutely and irrevocably in the Basotho nation”.  Land is a valuable natural resource, which has to be judiciously managed to ensure continued proper allocation for all citizens to avoid situations like those of Ha Shelile and others.

Ends