Resolved to fight and save his land

Michael Katz (75), passionately known as Michael Saltino to his music fans and followers on social media, is a furious man, his rage is well displayed by videos he posted on his TikTok page and has recently been viewed by almost 112,000 viewers, which he is accusing the Leandra Municipal Management in Secunda of trying to rob him of his properties—the farm and a piece of ground that his late father registered as a township at the title deeds office 50 years ago. Saltino says the municipality tempted to push him to sign the agreement declaring that he is handing over the farm for free, where the late former mayor of Mpumalanga also signed as the witness to attest that he is giving away his land to Thembalempilo Project Cooperative Ltd.

Saltino says his mistake was to agree to the proposition by Thembalempilo Project to use a portion of his farm for free for planting purposes; then the next thing, the agreement was drafted by the municipality for him to give over the entire farm for free. He says he still has copies of the agreement which he refused to sign, and in return, Sipho Masilela, chairperson of Thembalempilo Project, couldn’t continue using it for planting purposes as per their verbal arrangement.

"My farm’s value is very high for future township development, and my other piece of land registered as a township in Leslie at Extension 3 also has a high value for housing development as well, which the government is aware of, hence they are trying to frustrate me out of my properties so that they can develop them as township residential areas without paying me. Why else would they charge rates to only my farm and exclude other farms in the same areas?" says Saltino.

Saltino says he has an agreement dotted in black and white with the municipality, declaring that they will not be charging him rates on the balance of his township after his late father sold 70 stands to the municipality in Leandra until further stands could be sold. Up to now, no stand has been sold. It's crucial to note the differentiation between the farm and the township. On the farm there have been no services provided by the municipality in the same area; hence, no other farmers in the vicinity are charged rates furthermore the statement from the municipality shows that since March 2024, the township rates owed have amounted to R195,672.39. a point of contention given the prior agreement of no rates.

It is probable that the five random armed robberies Saltino has survived were not coincidences but rather opportunistically planned hits that failed to succeed because God has a purpose for him. In the last robbery, he was shot three times at close range, and he still has scars to show for it, but by the mercy of God, he survived yet again. He says he uses the hit experiences as the motivation to restore his hope that one day he will be able to attain his goal of building aspirant musicians’ musical careers in South Africa. He says he is a small businessman by trade but a musician by passion.

Saltino hopes that a political party, claiming to stand for the people, would respond to his TikTok call to expose to the public the greedy ex-mayor who attempted to steal his properties

The municipality's spokesperson, Donald Green, asserts that Saltino is eligible to pay the rates as per the deed search. "Mr. Katz was consistently paying his rates until August 2020, and municipal archived documents are disposed of every five years," Green explains. However, Mr. Katz refutes these claims, stating that he never paid rates and has no intention of doing so.

Mr. Katz invites any political party willing to listen and collaborate on exposing the municipality, he states that doing so, not only exposes the culprits but also provides an opportunity for the political party to demonstrate to voters that their actions align with their promises. Contact I'M A PATRIOT Media at support@imapatriot.co.za to connect.