Ivone Mafisa, a Leribe man, has been battling since 2003 to recover his commercial site in Maputsoe urban from Fathima Ltd, a company owned by Afzal Abubaker.
Mr. Mafisa has been claiming that Mr. Abubaker, a Mosotho business man of Indian origin, unlawfully occupied his land.
In 2003, Mr. Mafisa tried to get the police to intervene through the help of Mr. Molapo who, at the time, was the area chief of Ha Manama in Maputsoe. Mr. Molapo wrote a letter to the Maputsoe Police station commander on 18 December 2003, requesting help for Mr. Mafisa.
A court order was issued on 20 March 2006 and on 18 October 2011 Mr. Mafisa filed papers before the same court abandoning the above court order in exchange for compensation.
Unfortunately, he did not receive compensation from Mr. Abubaker and subsequently filed a new court application on 31 August 2017 asking the court to evict Mr. Abubaker from the land.
The application also states that Mr. Mafisa has a lease proving his ownership of the land that was unlawfully occupied and that he had tried unsuccessfully different amicable ways to solve the issue.
On 28 September 2017 the court summoned Mr. Abubaker to appear personally or through an instructed representative to answer all questions.
Mr. Abubaker admitted to the claims of Mr. Mafisa but he argued that the order referred to was abandoned by consent for a compensation. He also argued that Mr. Mafisa was aware of the improvements made on the land and that he did not occupy the land forcefully.
According to Mr, Abubaker, Mr. Mafisa never engaged in negotiation but used threats to try take the land back.
