Justin Arenstein
President Nelson Mandela has ordered the country’s top investigator, Judge Willem Heath, to probe a land deal involving South Africa’s outspoken ambassador to Mozambique and former homeland strongman, Mangisi Zitha.
The controversial deal allowed Zitha to buy a 5,7ha farm with two houses in the former KaNgwane homeland in 1991 for just R5 795.
Three similar deals also benefited two other serving politicians and the deceased chair of South African National Parks, Dr Enos Mabuza. National parliamentarian Professor Simon Ripinga, member of the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders Tikhontele Dlamini and Mabuza all got their own farms for the same amount.
The auditor general said at the time the deals were in direct violation of existing tender board regulations and the land should have been put out to public auction.
He also noted in an audit report that no attempt had been made to verify the farms’ market values and that the politicians were only charged the legal transfer fees when they were allocated the land.
All four politicians threatened the Mail & Guardian with a R8-million defamation suit when the newspaper first exposed the deals in 1996. But they dropped the action when the M&G revealed that Mabuza and Dlamini had mortgaged their farms for between R300 000 and R500 000 each.
Mabuza mortgaged his 19ha paw-paw and litchi farm for R480 000 almost immediately after he paid R5 795 for it. Dlamini first took out a R262 000 mortgage on his 3,9ha farm in 1991, and an additional R72 000 mortgage in 1992.
Agricultural economists have, however, put the farms’ true market values even higher, pointing out that banks always keep a 25% reserve on mortgages to protect themselves.
Mpumalanga’s legislature portfolio committee on public accounts is still waiting for an explanation on the irregularities two years after the expos. It issued the provincial director general, Frank Mbatha, with a 60-day ultimatum last week.
Said committee chair Hein Mentz: “Provincial officials refused to answer questions at the time because, they said, the deal had occurred in the old homeland and they couldn’t get hold of everyone involved. After two years of passing the buck, we’ve been forced to give the director general an ultimatum. The questions have to be answered.”
Mbatha’s representative, Oupa Pilane, added that Mpumalanga has had trouble compiling a report because the issue is “complicated”. He said the province believes Heath is best placed to investigate the issue.
Heath’s Mpumalanga investigation manager, Jonathan Dutton, confirmed on Thursday that Mandela mandated the unit to probe the deal earlier this month. He said he was arranging for at least two independent land evaluators to visit all four farms.
“The auditor general feels very strongly that there were irregularities and so we’re duty-bound to check and see if the state incurred any financial losses. If there were any, we’ll reclaim the money,” said Dutton. He stressed that he had received full co-operation from Zitha.
Zitha was not available for comment but his attorney, Steve Hefferman, said from Maputo that the ambassador is still convinced he was legally entitled to the farm and had done nothing wrong.
“I’ve personally investigated this issue and have come to the conclusion that it was all legal in terms of the laws of the time. Zitha is, however, of the opinion that if it is proved that anything was irregular, he would be prepared to negotiate the rectification of any wrongs with Heath,” said Hefferman.
“If there is any thing irregular, Zitha was involved without realising it. He had the assurance of his officials at the time that everything was in order and that the land belonged to the Lomshiyo tribal authority.”
Zitha claims that the land was transferred to him by the KaNgwane government, which legally bought the land on his behalf from the tribal authority. “It was a commercially worthless piece of land at the time and had two ramshackle houses on it,” added Hefferman.
Dlamini was regional traditional leader in the area, as well as minister of culture, at the time of the deal and personally authorised the transfer of the four farms.
The Department of Land Affairs has confirmed, however, that the land initially belonged to the South African Development Trust, which holds ownership of most of South Africa’s traditional tribal land.
All four farms were transferred to the former KaNgwane government just before the sale, and should have been disposed of through existing tender board procedures or through public auction. – African Eye News Service