Juba County Commissioner Tete Emmanuel takes on land-grabbers|Photo|Courtesy

Five land-grabbers were on Wednesday, 27/03/2024 arrested at the Jebel Timan suburb while in possession of forged land tittle deeds, stamps and receipts.

This comes after new Juba County Commissioner Emmanuel Tete Ezbon launched a crackdown two days after he took oath of office.

He replaced his predecessor, Engineer Joseph Charles Wani who was relieved through a Republican Decree last Friday.

Speaking during the crackdown on Wednesday, Commissioner Ezbon said, the suspects were also found with maps and measuring equipment.

“We received information about some people carrying out illegal land demarcation activities in the area. We raided and arrested them, and seized forged seals, maps, documents, measuring equipment, and financial receipts,” he told the media at the Luri Payam headquarters. 

He said the arrests were made after the country authorities received information about some people carrying out illegal land demarcation in the area.

“We notified the security authorities in the city to trace the source of these forged documents. We discovered that they had forged all of these documents which is a crime according to the law, and is punishable.”

Mr. Ezbon warns the public against dealing with land-grabbers or else they will face the might of the law.

“I would like to send a message to the citizens not to deal with land grabbers so that they are not exposed to theft. I want to say that any person we find with these forged documents will face the law.”

Meanwhile, Commissioner Tete Ezbon has issued a local temporary order, postponing land demarcation in the county .

“We, as the authorities of the city of Juba issued a local order after demarcation of the undivided land, especially in the fourth degree that is under the authority of the county.

“Any demarcation of the land must be done by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Payam or County. It is not permitted to divide or demarcate lands by individuals or chiefs,” he said.

He blamed the insecurity related to land grabbing on the failure of the Ministry of Housing to show and handover plots to their rightful owners.

According to him, the Ministry of Housing will soon start land demarcation and showing while cautioning individuals and chiefs against violating the order.

“We have noticed that one of the reasons for insecurity in Juba regarding land issues is the failure of the Ministry of Housing to show and hand over the lands to their owners so we decided that the Ministry of Housing will start showing the land to the rightful owners,” he added.

Right groups activists have often stressed that land-grabbing remains a security threat committed by senior army and national security generals in South Sudan.