The Mpumalanga legislature has recommended that a communal property association responsible for the country’s biggest land claim, Mala Mala Game Reserve, should undergo a comprehensive audit and be placed under administration.
The recommendation follows the shocking discoveries during a recent oversight visit to the troubled reserve by the portfolio committee on agriculture, rural development, land and environmental affairs.
The luxury Mala Mala Game Reserve, where a night’s stay sets back a tourist from R35 000 a day, was purchased in 2014 for R1-billion for the N’wandlamharhi Communal Property Association (NCPA) as part of the land restitution programme.
The 13 184-hectare land, whose part of a larger portion is still under claim, was intended to uplift dispossessed communities, create sustainable tourism opportunities, and deliver economic benefits.
Instead, the NCPA has been rocked by mounting challenges. After two oversight visits to the NCPA in October and last week, the portfolio committee has described the situation as a failure of governance amid disputes and allegations of financial mismanagement.
Committee chairperson Collen Sedibe acknowledged in a report to the legislature that without intervention, the problems facing the NCPA would persist.
“The NCPA must undergo a comprehensive audit and restructuring. This includes convening regular annual general meetings, maintaining transparent financial management and establishing clear communication channels with beneficiaries,” he said.
The NCPA leadership implicated in the mismanagement did not attend the oversight visit.
“[We recommend that] the department must consider placing the NCPA under administration to ensure transparency and accountability.”
Committee members were further concerned that the NCPA has not held a valid annual general meeting since 2016.
The committee also learned of unauthorised transactions totalling millions of rands between 2016 and 2018.
Funds set to be paid as dividends to beneficiaries, it stated, were allegedly used for undisclosed purposes.
The committee wants a forensic audit to uncover the full extent of the irregularities. “The NCPA must provide detailed financial records and clarify allegations of mismanagement,” Sedibe said.
The NCPA resulted from a merger of two claimant communities, the Mhlanganisweni and Mavhuraka, who were meant to jointly benefit.
But it has led to court battles, physical confrontations and refusal to recognise one another’s legitimacy.
The warring parties are set to battle it out in the Mbombela High Court in April next year, where the court is set to determine whether the NCPA should be placed under administration
Louise du Plessis, the lawyer representing the NCPA executive committee, directed Sunday World to the answering affidavit the NCPA has disposed in court as an official response to our enquiry.
In the affidavit the NCPA denies allegations of mismanagement, financial impropriety, and maladministration.
It attributes governance disruptions to the unresolved question of whether the Mavhuraka Community is entitled to NCPA membership and benefits.
It claims that disruptions by the Mavhuraka Community have prevented AGMs and elections since 2016.
The NCPA contends that placing it under administration is unwarranted and an abuse of court processes.
