Executive Mayor Urges Council to Sue Public Works Minister Over Stalled Land Transfer
By Asemahle Mfombi · KuGompo City
10 September 2026 · 3 min read
This article was created using or in collaboration with AI. It was then reviewed, fact-checked and edited by a real human. Lastly, it was approved and published by a senior editor.
BCM Mayor Princess Faku (on the left) with Public Works Minister on the right, Dean Macpherson
In what many may view as an unprecedented move, Buffalo City Mayor Princess Faku has urged her council to take the national government to court over delays in the transfer of a piece of land, which was donated to the city by the National Department of Public Works. Two years later the land is yet to be transferred.
Faku's proposal comes after the council learnt recently that the promised donation was still stuck in the transfer process, delaying the next step for families displaced during Covid-19 demolitions. If the City proceeds with the proposed lawsuit, it would be the first time the municipality has sued another state entity.
The mayor made the proposal at a recent council meeting, on August 25, at the East London City Hall in KuGompo City following the tabling of a progress report compiled by Ncumisa Sidukwana, then acting city manager. The report, meant for discussion and noting by council, told the council that the municipality was still waiting for the national government to complete the transfer of Farm 871/1, also known as Greydell or Bhongweni.
The transfer delay, which many believe may have contributed to the anger that followed the widely publicized demolitions, ties together two separate, but linked problems for municipality -- a stalled inter-governmental land transfer process and a relocation plan for families who lost homes during the demolitions.
The report acknowledges that the households were meant to move to a temporary relocation area at Farm 924 in East London, but that process has now had to be rescheduled. The mayor expressed disappointment over the delay. Bhongweni is a housing development near the King Phalo Airport
“Let us take (Dean) Macpherson to court so that the people of Bhongweni can have water and other services,” Faku pleaded with council.
The proposal, viewed by some councillors as being too radical and premature, was immediately opposed by Faku's predecessor, Xola Pakati. “I think the first thing to do, instead of suing the Minister, would be to write to the MEC (for Corporative Governance and Traditional Affair) through the office of the mayor detailing this dispute,” Pakati, now an ordinary ANC councilor, said. The DA also opposed to the proposal.
