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EAST London attorney Roger Smith – who sold his 49ha farm to East London Transitional Local Council (TLC) 10 years ago for R762 000 – wants the Grahamstown High Court to reverse the sale of the land, which is now worth about R49 million.

The disputed land, situated at the Gonubie interchange, was once rolling green agricultural land but is now considered highly desirable commercial property.

Smith has battled the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) long and hard for the land, which he says it bought from him under threat of expropriation in 1999. The land was bought with the intention of developing a cemetery on it.

Smith has gone so far as to offer BCM the R762 440 purchase price of the property plus interest for its return to him. BCM declined.

Smith has now resorted to taking the municipality to court. In the particulars of his claim, Smith says the TLC took a resolution in September 1998 to offer him R485 000 for the land. Instead it offered him R400 000 and later again R485 000. He refused both offers. It then resolved in December 1998 to offer him R762 440 and concluded that if he again refused this amount they would immediately proceed to expropriate the property for purposes of developing the cemetery.

The cemetery was to serve Mzamomhle, Gonubie, Beacon Bay and Nompumelelo.

After purchase, the land was found not to be suitable for use as a cemetery. It is not clear what the BCM has used the land for but a valuation report attached to the court papers said the farmhouse, which was in mint condition at the time of the sale, had subsequently been stripped bare by vandals.

Smith pleads that by placing him under the impression that it intended acquiring the property for a “legitimate public purpose” and by threatening him with expropriation, his “resistance” to the sale had been “weakened”.

The court papers claim that BCM’s persistence in retaining ownership of the property, despite its unsuitability as a cemetery, was “against public policy and unconstitutional and infringed the plaintiff (Smith’s) right to not to be deprived of his property”.

But BCM says Smith’s claim comes too late. It says that, in any event, the property was purchased after an “arms-length transaction”. It flatly denies that Smith sold the property to the TLC under threat of expropriation. In fact, it claims Smith had offered to sell the property to the TLC and had then “actively pursued negotiations” around the purchase price, finally settling on the R762 440.

BCM concedes that subsequent to the sale, it had established that the property was not suitable for use as a cemetery, but says that the purpose for which the property was bought was not relevant to Smith’s claim.

There are two valuations attached to the court papers, both conducted by professional valuer Christopher Lourens.

The first, carried out in November 1998, values the land at R670 000. The second valuation, carried out last month, estimates the current market value to be in the region of R49m.

The matter is set down to be heard in February next year.

Advocate Izak Smuts, SC, and advocate Neil Schoeman, instructed by Nolte Smit Attorneys, will appear for Smith while advocate Richard Quinn, SC, and advocate Niel Taljaard, instructed by Whitesides Attorneys, are acting for the BCM. - By ADRIENNE CARLISLE