A KwaZulu-Natal sugar-cane farmer's grand plan to build an R800-million, 16.5MW renewable energy plant on his farm could be thwarted by a massive land claim that could swallow the entire property earmarked for the project. Owner Charl Senekal, who was singled out by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation address as "my good friend" and who in 2002 hosted deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at his farm, is the biggest private land owner in KwaZulu-Natal.Senekal called the land claim "a storm in a teacup", but the claimants say they will stop the renewable energy project if it goes ahead before their claim is dealt with. The claimants, from uMkuze in northern KwaZulu-Natal, say they are not against the biomass project, but they want the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to finalise the restitution of their land.The 11999 hectares belonging to Senekal are used to grow sugar cane and graze cattle and game. There are two holiday lodges there with a third on the way.The 5000ha sugar-cane farm produces about 360000 tons of sugar cane a year, some of which is supplied to Tongaat Hulett and other sugar producers.The energy project will produce electricity by burning leftover cane leaves to generate power for 3000 households.Two communal property trusts, Sibuyele Ekhaya and Mbungulwane, are claiming land back from Tongaat Hulett and Senekal.The trusts were awarded 8000ha in the first phase of their land claim in 2010. However, about 6600ha belonging to Tongaat Hulett and Senekal were not dealt with in the original claim.Sbonelo Hlongwane, communications officer at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, confirmed that all claims were lodged in 1998. He said that the first phase involved land owners who agreed to sell."Tongaat Hulett and Mr Senekal rejected our offers in 2008, and we revalued the land."We are now renegotiating with them, and the claimants have been informed about the challenges we are facing," he said.It was initially expected that Tongaat Hulett would have to return about 3300ha and Senekal about 3306ha, according to Lucky Myeni, spokesman for the Sibuyele Ekhaya Communal Property Trust.But Tongaat says it has sold the land, although details of the sale are unclear.Myeni said: "We want this land back. It belongs to our forefathers and we want to develop it. It is wrong for Tongaat to sell this land while our claim is still pending."Hlongwane confirmed that Tongaat Hulett had told the department that they had sold their land to Senekal, but refused to provide the department with their signed sale agreement."These properties are still registered under Tongaat Hulett according to the deeds search conducted," said Hlongwane.Tongaat Hulett refused to respond to a list of questions, except to say it had "sold the land to Charl Senekal in 2013, having met all relevant legal requirements," according to the company's communications manager Michelle Jean-Louis.Senekal said the land claim would not delay the biomass project any further. "We are ready to start setting up our biomass plant in August this year It will take us about 22 months to put it up," he said. Plans were also under way for a 10MW solar plant.The biomass-project is in partnership with an Italian company, Building Energy Development Africa and local communities. Build Energy did not respond to requests for comment...