Inherited East London land no longer on the map

An East London man is searching for a piece of land he inherited from his father but which has since vanished from the city's town planning maps.

Mlandeli Manyela inherited the land in Mdantsane, identified by official records as erf 1763, from his late father, Kolisile, in 2008 - but he has never seen the property .

Two houses currently occupy the space Manyela believed his family had owned for more than 20 years.

"I was shocked to find my late father's vacant land was occupied," Manyela said. "It is bad," he said, adding: "I don't feel right about this."

According to Manyela, his father had owned erf numbers 1714 and 1715 since the early 1980s, but in 1990 decided to consolidate the two plots to make erf number 1763.

Manyela has no proof to confirm this, although he does have a title deed stating his father's ownership of erf 1763.

Manyela had hoped to sell the land to Kwanele Masakazi in the coming months.

"I wanted to buy the property, but we cannot go ahead with the transaction until this matter is resolved," said Masakazi.

The Crusaders attempted to unravel the mystery when Manyela and Masakazi approached us out of desperation.

Manyela and the Crusaders met with Buffalo City communications officer Samkelo Ngwenya and chief administration officer for land administration, Nzondelelo Mbongo, last week.

It was discovered that erf number 1763 could not be located on a town map for the area, despite the fact that it is on BCM's GIStext system under Kolisile Manyela's name.

Ngwenya stated in a later e- mail that "the properties in that Unit (NU), end at erf 1762".

According to Mbongo, NU13 was "reframed" or reconfigured in recent years, and then "subsequent titles given to other people".

He could not say when this "reframing" occurred.

Adding to the confusion is an outstanding BCM rates account for erf number 1763, also in Kolisile Manyela's name, which stands over R2 000 in debt.

According to Ngwenya, services for the property "ceased as far back as January 22, 2004" - a year after Manyela's father died.

"The account was handed over to our lawyers," said Ngwenya, but Manyela denies ever receiving any legal documents regarding the land.

It is not clear where BCM was sending the accounts either since there was no street address and Manyela's father had died.

Furthermore, Manyela was given a "letter of authority" signed by a local magistrate in 2008, effectively transferring erf 1763 from his deceased father's ownership to Manyela.

On this letter of authority the property was valued at R20 000.

Despite official documentation suggesting the existence of erf 1763, city maps show that it had simply "vanished".

Both Mbongo and Ngwenya cited the failure to develop the land as a possible reason for the municipality having to "reframe" the property.

Inet-Bridge

Posted at 11:19AM Mar 10, 2010 by Editor in Residential  |  Comments[1]