A Court of Appeal (CoA) judgement that has received far less attention than it should have could send shock waves across the nation. The case features as principal litigants, the Roman Catholic Church and a Moshupa family that fought over a residential real estate in Goo-Mookodi Ward part-developed by the Church.
The plot was allocated to Tautona Kenosi who was married to Irmengard in community of property. The allocation happened before the promulgation of the Tribal Land Act. At the time of Tautona’s death in 1973, the couple had eight children. From reading the CoA judgement, it is unclear what sort of developments the family made on the plot; what clear is that the Disele family and a Dr. Matlhare were allowed “to occupy the property free of rental.” The plot thickens when Dr. Matlhare vacated the property and Irmengard, a member of the Moshupa parish, granted occupational rights to Peter Seane, a catechist, through the Church. After Seane moved in, the Church made unspecified developments on the plot, which developments were then used for Church activities.
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