Aformer state official entrusted with land claims and redistribution has been sent to prison for 10 years for stealing a farm and livestock that had been awarded to a labour tenant family. A decade after the Shabalala family was awarded the Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, farm where they had lived and worked all their lives, they are still waiting for the government to transfer ownership to them and to provide assistance in line with the land reform policy. "It must be placed on record that this is not even in the pipeline," said the Durban commercial crimes court magistrate Judy Naidoo on Monday, referring to the lack of progress in transferring the farm to the Shabalalas. Patrick Masoka was found guilty earlier in 2018 of fraud and two counts of theft amounting to R5.3m. The court heard that while working for the department of rural development & land reform as a project manager, Masoka had devised a blatantly corrupt scheme. He and his family took ownership and control of Kuickvlei, a ...
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