TENANTS at Hillerman Farm in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, are living in the dark because the owner of a farm refuses to connect electricity on his property.
The farms accommodates 2,000 households with an estimated 4,000 people.
Farmer Martin Platt, manager of the Lot 194 Marina Beach Farm, which owns Hillerman, allegedly chased away a construction company that had already put up electricity poles.
Platt does not want electricity to go over his other farm to the residential area near it.
Now residents are livid and accuse him of depriving them of their constitutional right to have access to electricity.
Local councillor Mbongiseni Bhojabhoja Dlamini said they had since 1993 been trying to have the land redistributed back to them, but in vain. He said people now want land to be expropriated and warned that had it not been for him some tenants could have taken "action".
"According to a government evaluation process the farm would cost R17-million, but Platt doesn't want the money," Dlamini said.
"He says he is not selling, so the government cannot dictate the amount."
He insisted that the land belonged to his forefathers and the government should just expropriate it so that people could have access to development been done by the municipality in Greytown and Muden areas.
"My great-grandfathers, one of whom fought in the World War II, arrived here in 1812 from Swaziland and, at the time, there was no white person or anyone who owned this part of land," he said.
"It's really tormenting us that we are made inferior in our own land."
Attempts to get comment from Platt were unsuccessful.
A woman who answered his phone said, "Martini is actually driving and can't talk", before hanging up.
He also did not respond to an SMSes sent to him.
Umzinyathi district mayor James Mthethwa said they would arrange a meeting with Platt.
"What this farmer is doing is unconstitutional because people have a right to electricity. But we will engage him to give us permission to have electricity installed and failing this we will take him to court," Mthethwa said.
In 2003 the landowner tried to evict the families, but they got a reprieve when the case was delayed on technical grounds.
Farmer 'denies' power to the people
TENANTS at Hillerman Farm in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, are living in the dark because the owner of a farm refuses to connect electricity on his property.
The farms accommodates 2,000 households with an estimated 4,000 people.
Farmer Martin Platt, manager of the Lot 194 Marina Beach Farm, which owns Hillerman, allegedly chased away a construction company that had already put up electricity poles.
Platt does not want electricity to go over his other farm to the residential area near it.
Now residents are livid and accuse him of depriving them of their constitutional right to have access to electricity.
Local councillor Mbongiseni Bhojabhoja Dlamini said they had since 1993 been trying to have the land redistributed back to them, but in vain. He said people now want land to be expropriated and warned that had it not been for him some tenants could have taken "action".
"According to a government evaluation process the farm would cost R17-million, but Platt doesn't want the money," Dlamini said.
"He says he is not selling, so the government cannot dictate the amount."
He insisted that the land belonged to his forefathers and the government should just expropriate it so that people could have access to development been done by the municipality in Greytown and Muden areas.
"My great-grandfathers, one of whom fought in the World War II, arrived here in 1812 from Swaziland and, at the time, there was no white person or anyone who owned this part of land," he said.
"It's really tormenting us that we are made inferior in our own land."
Attempts to get comment from Platt were unsuccessful.
A woman who answered his phone said, "Martini is actually driving and can't talk", before hanging up.
He also did not respond to an SMSes sent to him.
Umzinyathi district mayor James Mthethwa said they would arrange a meeting with Platt.
"What this farmer is doing is unconstitutional because people have a right to electricity. But we will engage him to give us permission to have electricity installed and failing this we will take him to court," Mthethwa said.
In 2003 the landowner tried to evict the families, but they got a reprieve when the case was delayed on technical grounds.
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