According to a notice of motion filed in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court in December, the management of Rippons Safari Lodge wants Daniel Koert and his family to be evicted from Proctorsfontein Farm with immediate effect.
According to a notice of motion filed in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court in December, the management of Rippons Safari Lodge wants Daniel Koert and his family to be evicted from Proctorsfontein Farm with immediate effect.
In a sworn affidavit the lodge’s manager Brian Mullins requested the court to order and authorise the sheriff to evict Koert’s family and all their possessions from the farm should they fail to vacate the farm within three days of receiving the court application.
A copy of the notice was also sent to the Department of Land Affairs. Koert says that the farm managers have accused him of being drunk and disorderly. They say that he swears at them when under the influence of alcohol.
He also believes that the dismissal of his daughter from the lodge contributed to the decision to have him evicted. The department hired a lawyer to oppose the application on 18 December. Consequently, the matter was adjourned to today in court.
The lawyer confirmed the case but refused to comment on it saying that the department had instructed her not to comment.
Koert told Grocott’s Mail that he was sad about the possibility of the eviction from the farm on which he has lived for the last 40 years. “If I’m evicted from the farm where am I going to stay with my family?” he asked. He said he used to do general work on the farm until the new management retrenched him in 2008.
Makana councillor Zamuxolo Peter said the situation was one of “unfortunate occurences” that undermine the democracy under which South Africans are meant to be living. “Our people are still being victimised while there are laws which protect them,” he added.
Peter described Mullin’s court application as racist revenge arguing that Mullins’ farms near Salem was redistributed to black farmers as part of the national land redistribution programme.“He is doing it to spite black people,” he said.
“I’m opposed to game farms because as soon as farms are converted to game farms the workers are victimised and replaced by people of foreign descent,” he said.
