Land claims must be sensibly resolved
Mambuka Tribal Authority has lodged a massive claim with the Land Claims Commission.
AS reported in our previous edition, the Mambuka Tribal Authority has lodged a massive claim with the Land Claims Commission.
The claim against the State has not been Gazetted and as such does not yet have legal standing.
It is, however, a red flag for future City of uMhlathuze development with the mayor reporting it as ‘potentially crippling’, since the applicants are looking to repossess virtually half the city’s real estate.
But it should not be viewed as a threat and must be seen in context.
The matter of land claims and land restitution is a complex one requiring lengthy process and investigation.
There are literally thousands of claims currently being processed in South Africa.
Most are deeply rooted in history.
It is said some 3.5-million people were forcibly removed from their land as a result of the Native Land Act of 1913.
Through the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, The Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act now provides for the re-opening of the lodgement of land claims by people who missed the previous 31 December 1998 deadline.
They now have until 30 June 2019 to exercising their constitutional right to claim for dispossessed land.
Most of those who were evicted did not receive just and equitable compensation, and were invariably sent to inhospitable places, such as Ntambanana.
Of course, forced removals affected not only those immediately dispossessed but also their descendants, hence the large number of claimant groups.
Opportunists will of course also try their luck to get a slice of the land.
This includes those who would charge a fee to help people to lodge claims – totally unnecessary, as lodging a claim is a free government service.
But the issue goes beyond land ownership per se, and speaks of land stewardship.
In other words, what will become of the land if and when it is redistributed?
Land being claimed is either fallow, commercial, private or State owned and is linked to issues such as orderly city growth, development planning, agricultural and environmental factors.
Cities need to expand, for obvious reasons and also require appropriate land for development.
We trust the claims will be processed taking into interest the common good as well as fairness to those previously deprived of their legal rights.
