Zululand police have arrested and charged 24-year-old Siphamandla Thabani Shange for the murder of New Venture Farm manager Kenneth Eva. A source close to the investigation said further arrests in the case are imminent. But police have admitted their investigations into finding Eva’s killers are moving slowly because the community, where the suspects are believed to be living, is not willing to reveal their names. “Shange has not been willing to reveal the names of other people possibly involved in Mr murder, and the eSibhonsweni community has not submitted any names either. We are not sure of the reason why, but suspect that intimidation and fear could be the cause of their reluctance to assist with our investigations,” said Inspector Ntombifuthi Mbatha of the Ulundi SAPS.
Eva was murdered earlier this year after a boundary dispute in the Nkwalini Valley between the eSibhonsweni community and the New Venture Farm manager turned hostile. He was allegedly bludgeoned to death by an unknown number of community members. His bakkie was also set alight.
At a meeting held last week at the site where Eva was killed, the KZN Department of Land Affairs announced that a comprehensive boundary survey to determine ownership of the land where over 600 community families are currently living proved the land belongs to Eva’s employer Mark Chennells. T he survey result confirms Eva was within his rights to demand grazing and cropping fees from members of the community living on New Venture Farm.
At the meeting KZN Land Affairs acting chief provincial director, Vela Mngwengwe, gave the community a detailed ownership and transfer history of each of the lots of land that Chennells purchased in July 1998. These went back to 1906 when the first official surveys of agricultural land were carried out in the and surrounds. “There is absolutely no other way that anyone can now contradict the results of this final survey,” Mngwengwe said. “I confirmed the accuracy of this last survey’s results with both the surveyor-general of KwaZulu-Natal, and the province’s registrar of deeds. We all agreed that this land where we are today belongs to Mr Mark Chennells.” R everend Bheki Buthelezi, of the KwaZulu Regional Christian Council and who has been mediating in the boundary dispute, told Farmer’s Weekly the community has finally accepted the land belongs to Chennells, but it is now determined to prove they have historical tenure rights to the disputed land.
Chennells disputed the community’s claim to historical tenure rights, saying that aerial photos taken of the farm after 1998 showed no community dwellings on New Venture Farm. “offered the disputed piece of land for sale to the Department of Land Affairs about one and a half years ago, but they didn’t buy it. Now I’m not prepared to sell it any more. If the department wants to buy the land it will have to buy the whole farm as don’t want it subdivided,” the farm owner said. – Lloyd Phillips
