Nine years ago things were looking up for the Mhinga community, near Punda Maria in Limpopo. The community, which owns land worth R90-million bordering the Kruger Park, had just received a R6-million government grant to build an exclusive lodge on state land 8km from the Punda Maria gate.
Little remains of the lodge. Vandals have stripped out even the luxurious bathtubs, while vagabonds use the building for shelter.
The expensive furniture has either been repossessed or stolen. And the community remains locked in poverty, despite its location next to South Africa’s premier wildlife resort.
Workers at the lodge, who are members of the Mhinga community, have not received their salaries, despite the lodge having entertained guests between 2002 and 2004.
Community members, none of whom was prepared to be identified, point fingers at their chief, Cydrick Mhinga, saying he abused the lodge for his own benefit. Mhinga denies the allegations, as well as claims by a former investor, André Geldenhuys, that he used the lodge as a “cash cow” and his “private palace”.
A member of Mhinga’s royal family told the M&G the chief had stayed in power by ousting all his opponents from the royal council.
“We want him out, but we don’t know how to do it,” he said. “He’s like a cat that we’re all scared to go up against — he always seems to survive.”
Through his lawyer, the chief told the Mail & Guardian that “he always served his community’s best interests and sought to advance its cause for the general benefit of the community.
“From time to time I was remunerated in specific circumstances for services rendered or [costs] incurred in the furtherance of the objectives of the community trust. These were nominal amounts.”
Mhinga denied that Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale was forced to mediate between him and community members, saying Mathale had requested talks with community structures on one occasion after meeting the traditional council and royal family. Commenting on his dismissal of council members who opposed him, he said no leader could accept being consistently undermined by a community member.
“A member of the royal family was duly dismissed after a formal hearing,” he said, adding: “There are, indeed, continuing disputes between different structures in the community, some of which are opposed to the traditional leadership.”
“This is an ongoing issue across the country and certainly not unique to the Mhinga community.”
The chief accused the ousted council members of being in cahoots with Geldenhuys, who he blamed for the demise of the lodge.
“Under his management the facility deteriorated dramatically, until Geldenhuys was removed from the facility following the direct intervention of the — government of Limpopo,” he said.
Geldenhuys became involved in Wisani Lodge in 2003, when he negotiated a lease agreement with the chief, who claimed to represent the Mhinga Trust. His contract was to bring in investment for the lodge project and manage it.
“But I soon realised that the chief was a one-man show,” said Geldenhuys, who added that Mhinga’s suave and hearty manner had impressed him at first.
“The chief always required operational expenses for the lodge to be paid into separate accounts,” he said. “This raised suspicion.” The M&G has seen Mhinga’s handwritten requests to Geldenhuys for money.
Geldenhuys said that when he wanted to manage the lodge, he had found that it was being used “as his palace and his private estate to entertain his guests”.
Mhinga agreed that he stayed in the lodge, but said he personally took over its management after the former manager failed to run it properly.
He said he moved out after Geldenhuys took over, but the latter alleges that he was forced to hire security guards to evict the chief after he failed to respond to legal letters.
“The lodge was not operating as a tourist destination, but as a quick cash cow for the chief,” Geldenhuys said. “Money was not recorded and banked. Hence the records didn’t show any income, except the grants and expenses paid by me.”
Geldenhuys said he discovered that most community members thought the chief owned the lodge. Mhinga disputes this, saying: “There is no doubt that the Mhinga community is and was at all times fully and comprehensively appraised (sic) as to the ownership of the lodge.”
Geldenhuys said the two men had a massive fallout when he attempted to buy out another investor and Mhinga felt excluded. He ordered Geldenhuys to leave, though the lease agreement was still in place.
“That is when I discovered that there were missing funds from the lodge, which was operating,” said Geldenhuys. “The other Mhinga trustees and I started investigating.”
Geldenhuys said he followed the trail to the lodge’s Louis Trichardt bank account, where he accumulated proof of irregular payments and withdrawals by the chief. The M&G has seen this documentation.
Mhinga then reported Geldenhuys to the department of environmental affairs, claiming that he had usurped the community’s rights through his investment.
Geldenhuys hit back with a dossier on Wisani, which stopped operating after the fallout. He asked for an investigation of the original R6-million grant and other government loans and grants the chief had applied for. The department said this week that it had no authority to investigate the matter.