 The land consisted of northeast of the present town of Piet Retief.What Mbandzeni thought he had granted was in the nature of a permanent grazing concession, but Ferreira and Maritz opened up the territory to Afrikaner settlement and subdivided into small farms.Mbandzeni finally gave them the permission to form their own "labndla" (council), which led to their establishment of a local government, consisting of a president and council, with its own constitution and laws.