The feud between the Musingadi and Ndouvhada families over a certain piece of land seems to be going nowhere slowly, as both claim that their families owned it many years ago.
The land in question is marked as Lamakamba Chelford 213, situated near Kutama.
According to Michael Musingadi, 15 Musingadi families were forcibly removed from their land – Lamakamba Chelford 213 – in 1966, and were relocated to different areas in Nzhelele, Sibasa and Kutama.
When the government rolled out the land-restitution programme in 1995, the Musingadi family also applied to reclaim their land, situated right next to INDIA 229, which had been successfully reclaimed by the Ndouvhada family in 2016. The Musingadi family's application, on the other hand, has not yet been approved by the land-claims committee.
"We discovered that the Ndouvhada family are now encroaching on our land. They are cutting down trees and allocating themselves places to live on our land. We have tried several times without success to engage with this family, but they tell us that they do not work with the marked boundaries," said Musingadi. "We want the Ndouvhada family to stop any activities on Chelford 213 and get off our land."
A meeting between the two families was set up and held on Saturday, 6 November 2021, at the Information Centre park in Louis Trichardt town – which was decided to be a central point for both families to meet - but very few of the Musingadi-members could make it, as they could not afford to travel to Louis Trichardt. Pointing to the ones who had made it to the meeting, Musingadi said, "Most of these people were born on that land and we have our parents' graves on that land."
But Edward Ndouvhada denied these claims. "I don't know what these people are talking about. This land [Lamakamba Chelford 213] belongs to the Ndouvhada family. We successfully claimed it in 2016. We have some of our parents' graves on that land, and we usually carry out family rituals on that land." Ndouvhada said that his family had even invited the Musingadi family to be a part of the beneficiaries, but they have to be verified first.
In 2020, the Musingadi family approached Coxwell, Steyn, Vise & Naude attorneys, but then discovered that they also represent the Ndouvhada family. Musingadi said that, if the feud continued, they would be forced to escalate the matter to the courts.