MHLAMBANYATSI: Montigny Investments, a company with links to Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg and King Mswati through Tibiyo TakaNgwane is allegedly evicting Gogo Phumzile Dlamini from her land.
This disclosure comes shortly after this publication exposed how the King colluded with his business partner being the Finance Minister to secretly 'transfer' ownership of Swazi Nation Land(SNL) including Farms owned by Swazis to Silulu Royal Holdings(PTY) LTD through questionable 99-years lease agreements, some the Farms forcefully grabbed from poor Swazis are now used by the Finance Minister for his forestry business.
Speaking to this Swaziland News, Gogo Phumzile Dlamini said her parents arrived at Mhlambanyatsi around 1800 and acquired the land through Kukhonta, however, she said the late King Sobhuza later introduced Usuthu Pulp, a company that was conducting a forestry business saying it will contribute to the development of the area.
“The company(Usuthu Pulp) planted the trees in almost all the other farms without tempering with my land that was also registered as a Farm. When Sappi arrived,they then expanded saying they were now taking my land and this surprised me because we acquired the land through Kukhonta under the LaMgabhi chiefdom” ,she said.
Gogo Phumzile Dlamini further disclosed that her wattle (umtfolo) forest business from which she used to earn a living has been grabbed from her.
When asked to disclose who was actually evicting her from her land, the elderly woman said the trouble started with Sappi Usuthu and now Montigny Investments was intensifying the moves to kick her out of the land.
A questionnaire was sent to Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg, however, he had not responded at the of compiling this report.
But Andrew Le-Roux, Director at Montigny Investments said as a company they were not aware that the elderly woman was being evicted, describing the allegations as false.
“Good Day. Montigny strongly denies these false allegations” said the Director.
Speaking to this publication, Senator Dlamini, an activist who is vocal on issues of land said he was aware of the matter, he urged Swazis to unite and address the evictions that were intensifying across the country.
“Swazis must unite as a matter of urgency and address the land issue, even at Madonsa, 85 homes are facing demolitions, people are being evicted,” he said.
Reached for comments, Cebile Dlamini, the Secretary General of the Swaziland Rural Women Assembly(SRWA) said the evictions and issues of land were now becoming a serious problem to the lives of Swazis particularly poor women. Dlamini said as an organization, they condemned the eviction of Gogo Phumzile Dlamini and called upon Members of Parliament(MP) to dedicate time and discuss the plight of Swazis on issues of land across the country.
“As a organisation we condemn the eviction of Gogo Phumzile because all the processes of acquiring the land were followed. It’s very unfortunate that we are seeing even businesspeople who pretend to be bringing development, oppressing the poor by grabbing their land.Parliament must discuss the issue of land as a matter of urgency” she said.
Gogo Phumzile Dlamini