By Nasiha Khan
A local non-profit organisation known as The Seed Fund is facing accusations pertaining to their alleged involvement in the expansion of the Malacca Road informal settlement which has been a point of contention between eThekwini Municipality and the Indian Land Claimants Association (ILCA) for decades.
In an open letter to The Seed Fund founder Arianne Hayes-Hill, the chairperson of the ILCA, Robin Naidoo said the organisation is jeopardising their rights and opportunity to return back to the Malacca Road Area, much to the discomfort of the claimants and rate paying residents, due to the The Seed Fund’s involvement in the settlement.
Naidoo, who has been fighting for the rights of the land claimants in the areas of Glen Anil, Riverside, Durban North and Avoca, for over 20 years, said the claimants legally have more rights than the informal settlers in the area due to the Durban High Court order granted to the municipality in 2013 prohibiting land invasion.
“The lands owned by previous Indian owners was an average of an acre or around 3500m2, sufficient enough to have a house and land to farm. This land was robbed from us and our homes were demolished thanks to the National Party and now it is invaded by illegal squatters thanks to ANC run eThekwini. In 2013 there were roughly 70 informal dwellings occupied by land invaders, within that farmed perimeter. That number shot up to 400 presently. That same year, eThekwini applied for and was granted an urgent interim and final interdict against the illegal land invaders at the Durban High Court. Strangely the Council failed to act,” said Naidoo.
He added: “The Seed Fund may have good intentions, but it failed to do its homework. Had it listened to former Ward 110 Councillor, Pete Graham, and the leadership of the Glenhills Ratepayers Association it would have learnt that we have legitimate government gazetted land claims.”
Graham, who has publicly slammed the NPO for their alleged involvement said that The Seed Fund had supported the land invasion since he was the ward councillor of the area.
“Their direct actions of providing building material to the land invaders, of which I can very easily get an affidavit, is something that I have asked authorities to investigate. I need to stress this is purely my opinion, but an opinion based on years of experience and dealing with the vulnerable across our city and province, this is why we cannot stop the ongoing land invasion at Malacca, because the Seed Fund keeps supporting them.”
“This is one of the reasons we have so much illegal dumping in the precinct. The rightful owners of the land dating back over 100 years are identified as the Indian Land Claimants who have registered their tenure on the land in Parliament, they are registered as the legal Claimants on the land. The Ratepayers Association is fighting an uphill battle against residents who support the invaders,” said Graham.
He added that the fact that the City failed to enforce the order is its own issue, however acting to attract more people in the settlement cannot be condoned or supported.
“Every single person living in that camp with a shack number higher than 79 is a land invader. That is what the high court order is all about. They were informed of this by the city in both English and isiZulu and in presentations on site. These people have been attracted to the area because The Seed Fund which keeps making it nice and easy to live there,” said Graham.
Hayes-Hill vehemently denied all accusations stating that it is sad that people would be furiously accusing The Seed Fund of doing things that they don’t know is factual. She said: “Our intention is to empower the children in the settlement so that they can have a better chance at life and that they can get out of the poverty cycle. Our primary focus is the education of children in the settlement! We want people to move out of the settlement and so we help them get the skills for employment. I don’t believe that its their choice to live in poverty.”
She added that regarding the settlement expansion, The Seed Fund has no dealings with residents in that aspect and that issue is seen to solely by community leaders. “We have no say whatsoever in the building factor. We don’t provide building materials or anything like that. That gets taken care of by the community leaders themselves. Our focus is on breaking the cycle of poverty and not encouraging illegal settling. Its been taken out of context and the court order is being used as a weapon against then good work that we are doing,” said Hayes-Hill.
