Duop claims life in danger, appeals to Kiir to solve land dispute
Vice president of the South Sudan Artistes Union (SSAU), Duop Pur Duop, has called for the intervention of government officials to help solve a decades-old land dispute with the Deputy Director of Land Registry, Cosmos Juma.
Duop appealed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Governor of Central Equatoria State, Emmanuel Adil Anthony, and the SPLM Interim Secretary-General, Peter Lam Both to intervene in the matter.
Speaking to The City Review yesterday, Duop said his life was in danger, saying a number of unknown men had been spotted asking for his whereabouts while he had been away from home.
“I feel that I am being targeted. Somebody went to my house yesterday (Tuesday), and asked for me, but they didn’t open the car. After a minute, other people came and parked the car, and they did not come out of the car until they left,” he narrated.
“Some people had been calling my number asking, “Duop, where are you? I felt that some people were tracking me until I stopped using my MTN number. Since the time I won the case (in December 2021), some people had been tracking my MTN line. Sometimes, they may close my number, I don’t call, nor do I receive a call.”
He urged the government to protect ordinary citizens, particularly members of SPLM like him, saying some people of higher ranks in government can misuse their power to frustrate ordinary people.
“I am calling on the leadership, especially the President of the country, to protect us, the members of SPLM. I urge them to take help in the fast resolution of the dispute, “Duop said.
The case
Duop reportedly won a case against Cosmos Juma, who claimed ownership of a plot Duop claimed was his in December 2021, in Gudele Court.
“On December 23, 2021, the Gudele County Court ruled in my favour and convicted the official for 6 months in prison under article 341 for using his power and inconsistency of fact presentation. He only had the title deed he was supposed to give to me and he was using it to claim the land from me,” Duop said in an earlier interview published by The City Review on March 1, 2022.
But Cosmos appealed in Kator Court and moved to the High Court after Duop objected to the appeal. The High Court suspended the case so that it could be handled in Kator Court.
Duop, who was not content with the case being in Kator Court, appealed to the Supreme Court, as the file remains in High Court up to now.
On Tuesday, Kator court passed a judgement that it would no longer handle the case because it was not a criminal case but a civil one, hence, should be taken to a civil court so that they could decide who the owner of the plot was.
Duop, who is also an artist, said on Wednesday that he was not content with the ruling from Kator Court because he thought that the case was a criminal one.
“What happened was not a legal process if the judiciary is using extrajudicial decisions.” I think it is not normal. I am calling on the governor of Central Equatoria, who is a member of SPLM, to intervene and also work on my case to be solved fairly,” he noted.
Cosmos responds
Late in February, Cosmos was contacted by The City Review for an interview, but he refused to comment, saying that he was not willing to speak to the media because the case was still in the court of appeal.
”Stop, stop, please. The case is in the court of appeal, so please, I don’t have time to answer all those questions,” he said.
He added that Duop must wait for the ruling of the court of appeal in order for him to speak to the media.
“He appealed and there is another appeal in the court of appeal, so, it is not the time to talk now. Tell him that. He knows the case is in the court of appeal and he is supposed to wait for the decision of the court, so I cannot talk now,” he said.
Dragging dispute
In an exclusive interview in February, Duop revealed that he had been occupying the disputed land since 2006 in Jebel South, but in 2011, he was advised to acquire a land title deed from Central Equatoria State’s Ministry of Physical Infrastructure.
“I have a land dispute which has been there for a long time since 2011. I have my land in Jebel South. I have been staying in that area since 2006. In 2011, we were told to acquire the land title. I did all the processes by going to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Central Equatoria and they shared with me the procedures,” he explained.
He claimed that the land was assessed and the result showed that no one owned it, and so he was given documents showing that he was the authorised owner of the land.
“They sent surveyors who made an assessment and they did not get anyone in the records to be occupying the place. They wrote back to the ministry confirming that Duop Pur Duop is the one now in place and no one else,” he explained.
“After getting all the documents in place, they asked me to go to judiciary to register my land and have the title deed.”
According to Duop, he tried to follow the procedures of acquiring the land title deed and met the Deputy Director of the Land Registry, Cosmos Juma. Cosmos told him the land belonged to his son.
In 2017, Duop said he wrote a letter to the governor of the former Jubek State, and the governor directed the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure to resolve the dispute.
He said that he presented his land documents, but Cosmos Juma did not produce any documents for the land he claimed to be for his son.
The singer said Cosmos later demanded the land be divided into two, but he (Duop) refused. He stated that he was given some conditions either to divide the land, compensate, or pay SSP 250,000 to Cosmos.
“At that time, I had just returned from school, I didn’t have that amount of money. I was given three options to pay the money, compensate the land, or divide the land. I went back to the governor and he wrote to the minister again to solve the problem, but he was disappointed. He said, “This land I will not give to you.”
