Police accused of failing to act
A farmer is accusing the police of being reluctant to charge his neighbour with theft and malicious damaged to property.
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Willie Smit of Ofcolaco say he opened several cases of theft and malicious damage to property against Erick Mulungani of Harmony 45 farm but police seem to be unwilling to charge him .
The two farmers occupy different portions of the farm Harmony 45 but Smit said Malungani ‘s pigs and cattle broke his fence and caused extensive damage to his crops on several occasions.
He also accused Malungani of vandalizing his tractor , cutting his cattle camp wires and stealing fodder from his portion of the farm.
He further accused Malungani of cutting trees some more than 100 years-old for profit.
Malungani dismissed Smit’s accusations as desperate attempts to get him out of the farm.
He said he is one of the beneficiaries of Harmony 45 which was bought by the government for the Maitjene Community as part of the land restitution programme.
“I gave Smit permission to occupy part of the farm but he is now opening criminal cases and making wild allegations against me . He is making secret arrangements with some of the Maitjene Community Development Trust members to take over the farm from me. It is not going to happen,” said Malungani.
He said the fence which separate the two portions of the farm was damaged a long time ago and Smit does not want to fix it.
He said as for the fodder he was given permission by smit to take it.
Police at Gravellotte confirmed that several cases were opened by Smit against Malungani but were dismissed by the court due to lack of evidence.
Several attempts to get comment from the Maitjene Community Development Trust drew a blank.