The rural development department says it has been trying without success to resolve an ongoing land dispute regarding a farm where a bishop was killed when a worker drove over her with a tractor.
Spokesperson Zithini Dlamini said the department was shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Bishop Virginia Mngomezulu and that they had engaged in a series of mediation efforts with both parties, with no success.
“However, the department is in the process of seeking to identify a possible alternative farm as part of efforts to resolve the situation,” Dlamini said.
Mngomezulu, 61, was killed on her farm when a worker from a neighbouring farm allegedly drove over her with a tractor last Wednesday.
The man is believed to be among the people who refused to leave the farm after Mngomezulu occupied it.
However, the department is in the process of seeking to identify a possible alternative farm as part of efforts to resolve the situation
— Zithini Dlamini, rural development department spokesperson
On the day of the incident, he is alleged to have continued driving as Mngomezulu lay on the ground, bleeding to death.
Police are investigating a culpable homicide case.
Mngomezulu’s husband, Madliwa, told Sowetan this week that when his family first took occupation of the farm, there were people living there.
“They had been staying there and working for a white man initially, before the government bought the farm.
“All of a sudden, they turned against us and said the farm belongs to them and we are supposed to leave, and that their great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers lived there and that we are trespassers on the farm.”
He said tensions began shortly thereafter.
“They would block roads when we came to the farm, and we ended up having to run away from the farm. This issue has been ongoing for the past eight years.
“We left the farm in 2017 because our lives were in danger.”
Dlamini said the department entered into an initial lease agreement with the James Mngomezulu Family Trust in November 2008.
She said the lease was subsequently renewed for 30 years until February 2049.
As people were already living there and there were tensions between the two parties, Dlamini said the department decided to give the people who had been living on the farm a portion of it.
“Another defined, demarcated portion of the same farm was allocated to farm dwellers following a land rights inquiry,” she said.
The police said no one has been arrested in connection with Mngomezulu’s death, and the matter has been referred to the office of the director of public prosecutions for a decision.
Sowetan