DURBAN - KUICK Vlei farm dwellers are glad that Patrick Masoka - a former government official who was sent to help them finalise a land claim - has been convicted of fraud and theft.
It was 22 years ago that Mxokozeli Wilson Shabalala, now 71, lodged his land claim as a labour tenant born on Kuick Vlei farm near Ladysmith.
He had hoped that by now his children would have been assisted by government in becoming prosperous commercial farmers.
Instead, the Shabalala family was defrauded by Patrick Masoka, a former project manager in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
Instead of transferring ownership of the farm to the Sebenza Community Property Association that had been registered to enable the Shabalala family to acquire the 421ha commercial farm, implements and livestock, Masoka transferred the property to a trust controlled by his wife, Thobile, and two
brothers.
Masoka himself moved into the farmhouse and also benefited from agriculture development grants of up to R1 million that should have been awarded to the Sebenza Community Property Association.
Although representatives of the association alerted the department to this fraud in 2009, it was only this week that Masoka was finally convicted on fraud and theft charges.
Speaking from his farm this week, Shabalala said: “I was born here and worked for white farmers my whole life. When I lodged our land claim in 1996 it was a glimpse of hope.
“We burned impepho [incense] and asked for our ancestors to guide us,” said Shabalala.
After the land claim was approved in 2008, his children had received basic training in livestock and poultry farming from the Department of Agriculture, but never had been given further opportunities to develop any commercial farming skills, he said.
“Hopefully this judgment will now be a turning point for my children and grand-
children. I still pray to my ancestors for my children to prosper as emerging farmers.”
The chairperson of the Sebenza Community Property Association, Felaphakathi Khulu, said he hoped that Masoka’s conviction would serve as a warning to government employees who took advantage of illiterate farm dwellers.
“We were shocked by what Masoka did. He even threatened to kick the Shabalalas off the farm after we alerted the department that he had moved into the main house,” said Khulu.
Masoka is on bail while awaiting argument on sentencing in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court.
The fraud and theft crimes he has been convicted of carry a mandatory 15-year jail