Kweneng Land Board loses land allocation case against employees
Mpho Mokwape | Monday March 4, 2024 06:00
The land board has been in legal tussle with nine employees who accused the Land Board of failing to subdivide and allocate them ploughing fields despite the approval of their application to that effect in 2019. The Land Board had failed to file court documents including an answering affidavit when the matter was first brought against it.
The Land Board had then tried to use COVID-19 as one of the reasons for it to have failed to file on time, but the High Court rejected the excuse. After its loss at the trial court, the Land Board then filed an appeal with the CoA, which was subsequently rejected on the basis that its actions and omissions were not just random events of breach of rules but a wholesale infraction of rules of court and disregard or disobedience of its orders. When dismissing the appeal, Justice Lakhvinder Singh Walia said at the High Court, the Board was remiss at every stage of the proceedings.
“It did not file a notice of opposition or answering affidavits in response to the originating papers timeously and was constrained to file an application for condonation of late filing,” he said. Justice Walia explained that at the date set for hearing the application, there was no appearance by the Land Board and the court had to dismiss the application for condonation, thereafter setting the main application down for hearing on August 13, 2021. He stated that the Land Board laid supine for almost a month and a half and a mere three days before the date set for hearing, filed an application for rescission of the condonation application.
“It then sought to rely on a purported agreement to dispense with personal appearance and have the application determined on heads of argument. Not only were there no heads of argument filed but in a brazen act of disingenuity sought to put a glimpse of credibility by quite improperly alleging that the judge had agreed to such arrangement and this in the face of no such order having been made by the judge,” he said. Justice Walia also noted that not only did the Land Board do that but the affidavit in the application was deposed by their attorney containing matters clearly not in his personal knowledge.
“Faced with such shocking improprieties on the part of the Board, the High Court cannot be said to have exercised its discretion injudicially. “The court acted in faithful compliance with guidelines dealing with each act of non compliance and giving reasons for dealing with it as it did,” Walia said. Meanwhile, in the main application that was heard before the High Court, the employees accused the Land Board of failing to subdivide and allocate their ploughing fields. According to their court application, the said employees are holders of ploughing fields land rights in the areas of Nkoyaphiri in Mogoditshane, Gabane, Rakola, Diphiring and Gaphatshwa lands. In one instance, in Reuben Thakadu’s founding affidavit, they duly applied to the Mogoditshane Sub-Land Board to sub-divide their respective ploughing fields as per the existing policy and the subdivisions, which were consequently approved by the Land Board. “Notwithstanding, the approvals which happened in the last quarter of 2019, the Land Board has not implemented or given effect to the resolution thus the current Court application,” reads his affidavit.
Thakadu was one of the employees seeking the help of the court. He explained that the Kweneng Land Board’s blatant refusal to give effect to Mogoditshane Sub-Land Board’s resolution to sub-divide their plots was without any legal merit nor justification. Thakadu had argued that the refusal was prejudicial to them as their intended land use has been put to a halt pending performance on the side of the Land Board. “We took the decision to seek legal help because we have been advised by our attorneys, which advice we believe to be true that we have a legitimate expectation that the resolutions on the letters ought to have been given effect to,” he said. The Ministry employees therefore, demanded that the Land Board to honour the resolutions passed by the Mogoditshane Sub-Land Board to subdivide and allocate the plots in the ploughing fields they own.
The employees then sought the court to order and direct the Kweneng Land Board to implement its resolutions dated variously as per each employee’s letter of 2019. The letters wanted the Board to subdivide and allocate a ploughing field in a manner that has been approved and contained in the letters in their possession.
“This is an application for orders directing the Board to implement its various resolutions touching on the subdivision and allocation of ploughing fields consistent with their letters,” further read their papers. However, the Kweneng Land Board reportedly halted many of the activities at Mogoditshane Sub-Land, the decision followed after the officers were probed and an audit on the matter was released in September 2020. The audit report into the Mogoditshane Sub-Land Board allegedly exposed flagrant disregard for land procedures. Uyapo Ndadi represented the nine employees of the Ministry while Phenyo Sekape represented the Land Board.