Tawana Land Board loses repossession bid
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday November 3, 2015 14:15
The Court of Appeal brought to an end the case that has been ongoing since 1996.
The land board had sought a declaration of the rightful owner to the farm.
According to court documents, the piece of land measuring about a hectare belongs to the The Plant Aunt Company. It is part of a chunk of land measuring about five hectares, which lies in a prime area in Maun along the banks of the Thamalakane River opposite the main hospital.
When delivering judgment, Justice Isaac Lesetedi said the board had no leg to stand on as The Plant Aunt Company held a good and valid title in the form of a registered lease issued in terms of the provisions of the Tribal Land Act.
He said the board in its application had failed to bring any evidence as to why it was entitled to repossess the land having been dismissed several times by the trial judge.
“The application ought to be dismissed because the board has no evidence. The legal position has been expressed in a number of judicial decisions both in the High Court and this court,” he said.
The history of The Banana Farm can be traced back to September 2, 1982 when a certain Phillip wrote to the land board stating that he was the owner of the farm and had wanted to sell the plot to a third party, North West Holdings.
The documents read: “The sale must have fallen through as less than two months later he wrote another letter, now seeking to transfer the land to another company called Food Producers International. The letter sought assistance from the land board in that regard”.
The documents stated that the assistance was necessary under the Tribal Act as one could only hold the title on tribal land by following prescribed statutory procedures.
Further the land board with a letter dated March 15, 1983 approved the proposed transfer and copied the letter to a certain Mr J.C. Kannemeyer. Six months prior to Phillip’s letter, North West Holdings was said to have submitted an application form for common law rights to the farm and the application was for a 50-year lease. It was not processed because of his change of heart.
The documents further read: “In 1996 the The Plant Aunt applied for allocation of the farm on the basis that it has been abandoned then on August 1, 1996 the land board wrote to Kannemeyer for him to show why the board should not cancel his rights on the farm, which had stayed undeveloped for more than 13 years and why he has failed to pay his lease rental. By a copy of the letter, Maun Sub Land Board was instructed to allocate anyone interested in the piece of land”.
The Plant Aunt was subsequently allocated a portion of the farm and a grant lease was entered into.
A decade later in June 2008, Kannemeyer wrote a complaint letter to the board asserting title to the land and denying that rental for the lease was ever discussed. He contended that the board gave ownership of the farm to him in June 28, 1983.
About a year later the board wrote to The Plant Aunt informing it that it had been allocated a farm belonging to Mr Kannemeyer and that it was being relocated to a piece of land of its choice and that compensation would be made, but the company refused. Then in May 20, 2013 the board launched a motion of proceedings to repossess the land.
The board cited respondents as follows, The Plant Aunt, Food Producers International and The Registrar of Deeds.