Afega & Levi villages sought legal boundaries in land dispute

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 06 May 2025 – The villages of Afega and Levi Saleimoa presented arguments at the Lands and Titles Court yesterday over the legal boundaries of the land in dispute between the two villages.

The hearing was an appeal by the Alii ma Faipule of Levi against the Lands and Titles Courts decision last year in favour of Afega.

Afega representative Maulolo Tavita Amosa reminded the court of the history of the dispute which dates back 30 years and the many decisions of the court in favour of Afega.

One of the recent decisions included an order by the LTC President for both parties to engage separate surveyors to survey the land.

Maulolo said when they went to survey the land, they could not find the pins marking the boundary, so they sought the assistance from the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment to locate the exact positions of the pins.

When the pins were located, they started to survey the area from where the pins were to the area currently occupied by Levi.

The Levi representative did not argue against the surveying of the land but the manner in which the survey was been done.

He said that instead of surveying the lands according to the court order, to survey in a straight line from the main road going inland, Afega had diverted the survey inland to include Levi land.

This angered Levi residents who first took matters into their own hands and later to court.

In court, it was noted that whilst Afega had followed the court order in engaging a surveyor to survey the land, Levi did not.

The court’s decision on this matter will be delivered next week.

Meanwhile, the decision on the Leauva’a and Levi residents who were ordered to vacate the disputed lands late last year, will be delivered this week.