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DISGRACE!
LEGACY OF A PAINFUL PAST
APRIL 2013 NEWSLETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM
The 1913 Natives’ Land Act has
left a legacy that we must reverse!
President Jacob Zuma appeals for a united response.
“
“
a native shall not enter
to any agreement or
transaction for the puin
rc
hase, hire, or other
acquisition from a pers
on other than a nativ
e,
of any such land or of
any right thereto,
interest therein, or serv
itude thereover;
E!
C
A
R
G
IS
D
LEGACY OF A PAINFUL PAST
The paragraph above is from section 1 (a) of the Natives Land Act, (Act
no. 27, 1913) which came into effect on June 19th 1913. ‘Natives’ were
black South Africans, most of whom, prior to this, were living peacefully
and productively on the land of their forefathers. ‘Land’ was what they
were no longer allowed to own.
This iniquitous act effectively pulled that land from under their feet, leaving most
black South Africans destitute, landless and helpless.
It was the start of the discriminatory and fraudulent legislation that
brought this country to its knees; the thin edge of the wedge that
was to be driven through the heart of our society by apartheid.
Millions of people are still suffering from the aftermath
of this humiliating act. Thousands and thousands were
dispossessed, and their descendants were effectively
disinherited of their birth rights.
On June 19th 2013 it will be 100 years since the passage
of this outrageous “law”. It is a day that will be marked
with appropriate ceremony. It is a day of infamy, a day
we must all remember.
But it is also a day of hope – a day on which we pledge, as a united
nation, that such acts, and such sentiments, will never again sully
our national agenda.
FROM NOW ON,
BE FAIR – SHARE!
MAKE THE PLEDGE
We call upon all South
Africans to pledge that
they will never again be
party to legislation which
leads to misery for their
fellow countrymen and
women. A pledge to be
fair – to share success, to
help alleviate the sufferings
of the less-privileged, to do
what we can to uplift the
downtrodden; in the sure
knowledge that in doing
so, we lift ourselves, our
country, and our hopes for
the future.
THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT & LAND REFORM
MARKS THE CENTENARY OF THE 1913 NATIVE LAND ACT
PRESIDENT
JACOB ZUMA
I
n June 2013 it will be 100
years since the passage
of the 1913 Natives Land
Act. Many informed
observers regard this piece
of legislation as the act which
opened the apartheid floodgates
and encouraged the tsunami
of apartheid legislation that
followed, effectively washing
black South Africans from the
map of their own country.
Thousands and thousands
were dispossessed, and their
descendants were effectively
disinherited of their birth rights,
and banished to the least fertile
areas of the country, which were
ironically labelled ‘homelands”.
This inhuman, despicable and
disgraceful law deserves to
have the national finger of
accusation pointed at it during
this, the period leading up to the
centenary of its adoption. For
although it’s legitimacy was ended
with the advent of democracy, its
devastating effect has lingered
on; not least in the homes of 10
million people who continue to
live with poverty in South Africa’s
most distressed rural areas.
As a South African patriot
you can do two things about
this: Make very sure this never
happens again; that such a
blatantly prejudicial piece of
legislation is never permitted
to sully our statute books in the
future. And do all in your power
to ensure that those who still
suffer as a result of this law are
given whatever it takes to restore
their pride, dignity and human
potential. On June 19th I urge you
to join me in making a pledge to
do this.
FROM NOW ON, BE FAIR – SHARE! MAKE THE PLEDGE
I pledge that I will never again be party to legislation which
leads to misery for my fellow countrymen and women. I
pledge to be fair – to share success, to help alleviate the
sufferings of the less-privileged, to do what I can to uplift
the downtrodden; in the sure knowledge that in doing so, I
lift myself, my country, and my hopes for the future.
CPAs ARE IN CHARGE OF
CPAs – NO ONE ELSE.
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M
Minister GE Nkwinti
People
elected to the
Committee
often act as
though they run
the CPA, and
that’s not true
and it’s not right.
inister Nkwinti addressed
the Communal Property
Associations’ (CPAs)
Workshop late last year. Here
are the highlights.
The Minister began by assuring delegates
that CPAs formed a significant component of
government land reform and
rural development strategy.
He pointed out that there
is an important distinction
between a CPA and a CPA
Committee; that is the small
group of people that a
CPA entrusts with running
its affairs. The basic point
here is that the Committee
works for (and reports to)
the CPA, and not the other
way round. People elected
to the Committee often act
as though they run the CPA,
and that’s not true and it’s
not right. The Committee’s
job is to carry out the wishes
of the CPA as a whole.
The minister said that this
was the first point he’d like to
make and it was an important
one.
The second point was
that once a CPA is formed
and a Committee elected, there are rules to be
followed, rules laid down by act of Parliament.
This was to ensure and measure responsibility
and accountability within the CPAs. And the
person who is ultimately accountable for the
performance of each and every CPA in the
country is the Director General of the DRDLR,
who is obliged to report to parliament every
year and give an account of the progress of
every CPA.
The third point was that things were, in
fact, changing; despite many instances of
incorrect decisions and mistakes being made,
transformation was in fact occurring, big changes
were happening, and when things changed
there were inevitably going to be casualties. This
brought him to the subject of behaviour.
In the minister’s view, it was the particular
responsibility of those who had been the victims
of injustices in the past, to behave impeccably
in their dealings, particularly with fellow victims.
He was disturbed to note that some of those
who had been elected into positions of authority
abused their powers by “grabbing everything for
themselves”. This was not right and unacceptable.
To make his fourth point, the minister showed
a slide of a soccer ball labelled “Agrarian
Transformation”, saying this was an issue that all
South Africans were involved with. This implied
further changes; changes to the way things were
done, looked at, managed; right down to the
lifestyles of the people and the way communities
worked. These issues were fundamental and
brought into question basic
concepts including the pattern of ownership and
what constitutes wealth in the area where we
choose to live.
This brought us to the core issue that lies at the
foundation of the CPAs – “How do we organise
ourselves in this communal area, which belongs
to us, in such a way that all of us benefit from
the riches of this land, which we own together communally?”
The minister reminded his audience that the
goal of agrarian transformation was rapid and
fundamental change, stressing the word “rapid”
But progress to date was by no means rapid.
“The reason change doesn’t happen faster
is because we don’t have that communality
amongst ourselves. We compete and we
fight, and we do all sorts of things, and then
transformation does not take place at all. Poverty
deepens. Hardship deepens, because we don’t
understand one another.
“We don’t want to find one another so that
all of us can share. So we have to ask ourselves,
how do we work together as brothers and sisters
and friends? Let’s come together. Let’s organise
ourselves properly.”
The Minister said that this was point number
five: “finding one another.” He said that we all
boast about something called “Ubuntu” but he
wasn’t sure what we meant by that. He knew
what it meant to the people who had been
forcibly removed from District 6 in the centre of
Cape Town. For them it meant regaining their
heritage, even if that heritage was not all that it
might have been. “That’s what they are saying –
that when we go back there, we want to be who
we were before we were removed from there.
That’s the people of District 6, and they are on
their way back.”
Minister Nkwinti reminded his audience that
“ubuntu” is not about the powerful in society,
it is about the weakest. “Those who are weaker
matter most – that is what Ubuntu is all about.”
He said, that in practice what it meant was that,
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for example, a woman whose husband dies is
not treated badly thereafter. It means keeping a
kindly and watchful eye on the kids in parentless
families. “Until we take this responsibility upon
ourselves, we are not free. We will continue to
be the small boy amongst the grown-up nations,
a dwarf”. To avoid this we must change, not
just prepare ourselves for change, but actually
change.
The minister then went on to remind the
audience about some of the major points of
the CPA Tenure Model arrived at in previous
meetings, and the guidance given by the work
done on the green paper on land reform.
This had led to the establishment of five work
streams, one of which focused on the 4-tier land
tenure system. This dealt with issues around the
management and ownership of land, and the
proposal that State land must not be sold, but
leased out.
He recalled that many were opposed to state
ownership of land; that some felt government
had no business owning land and that it should
give the land to the people. But the big problem
with that theory is that once people own land
they are immediately tempted to sell it. In fact,
when the DG
had submitted
his 2011 report
to Parliament he
noted that 39
of South Africa’s
CPAs had sold
land without the
full authority of
the people they
represent. “These
poor people still
think that the land
belongs to them,
but in fact, it’s
gone.”
There was also
a high incidence
of people using
their title to land
to raise loans which they could not service.
When the Department of Rural Development
and Land Reform came into being in 2009,
it found numerous instances of farmers who,
having been given land by the state; used
these properties to raise loans which they were
subsequently unable to repay. The result was
that they lost their land, or would have done had
the department not stepped in to guarantee the
loans of many of these farmers.
Another example of questionable practice
was that involving manipulation by relatives
living in cities. The minister then recounted the
tale of an old man who was part of the highly
successful recapitalisation programme in the
Free State. The man wanted to buy a Mercedes,
despite the fact that he couldn’t drive. When
asked he responded by saying that his son
would drive when
he visited. And this
led the minister to
conclude that it was
not the old man but
the son who wanted
the Mercedes.
So all in all, for
the moment, it was
best that the state
retained ownership
of the land and
leased it out on a long
term basis; a minimum
of 30 years. On the
strength of such a long lease a farmer can still
raise working capital through a commercial bank.
“We are merely at the beginning of a process
whose purpose is to help you to your share of
the wealth of your country. This is your country,
you are a participant in its growth and evolution
and that’s why you’re here.
“In order to make these and other decisions,
we consult widely, including with agroeconomists. We say to them ‘help us guys – you
have the knowledge. They tell us ‘you guys are
going against international trends, saying big is
beautiful. Big is right. Small is no good,’ forgetting
that almost all who grew big started small and
expanded over years, sometimes centuries.”
The Minister then touched on the question
of deracialising the rural economy, one of the
key building blocks in the construction of a
‘just and equitable’ redistribution of land. The
department’s strategic viewpoint is that growth
can be achieved through redistribution, and that
the likelihood of the reverse taking place, (that is
redistribution through growth), is almost nil in a
transformational society like ours.
“We want growth through redistribution. If
you keep it, it dies or you lose it. If you share it, it
multiplies. Remember, that’s what we are saying
here. So, when we say limited extent, we mean
just that. We set the threshold above that. We
use the principle of just and equitable to acquire
the land from those who have it and
redistribute it amongst those who don’t have
it. That’s what government is dealing with. That’s
what the government is doing, the government
of South Africa. That’s what we are working for.”
The minister then referred to the fact that
cabinet had approved the Office of ValuerGeneral, an important step forwards, since it
allowed the state to acquire land through the
‘just and equitable’ principle, as allowed for in
the Constitution.
After touching briefly on the subjects of
freehold with limited extent, and land owned
by foreign nationals, he then turned to the issue
of communal land. He defined communal land
tenure as communal land with institutionalised
youth rights. The point here is “we must force
everybody to go to the land if they got land
from the State. They can’t say, we just needed it
for pride. No, there is no
such a thing.
“You want land,
because you want to
produce. We want
national food sovereignty
so that we don’t depend
on other countries and
become boys to other
countries or dwarfs to
other countries. We
make other countries
giants. We want to keep
ourselves as dwarfs. No,
produce on the land
so that you are free from manipulation by other
countries who are bigger than us or they think
they are bigger than us.”
Some tips for CPAs:
• Remember, this is a communally owned land.
There is one title.
• You want to have security of each household
so that nobody takes advantage of the woman
whose husband dies.
• We want to protect the most vulnerable in
society, the children who are left parentless for
whatever reason.
• Remember that the elected committee works
for the CPA and not the other way round.
• Remember there is accountability here, so
once every three months there should be
a regular meeting between the CPA and its
elected committee. The question of quorums
at such meetings should not be determined in
terms of headcount, but rather in terms of the
number of households that constitute the CPA.
One household might have 10 people, another
17.
• Be smart. If your CPA embarks on a
cooperative venture, be clever. Farmers who
grow maize cannot only sell it; they can bargain
with it for equity in, say, a dairy farm, as has been
done successfully in the Eastern Cape.
• And if such an idea works in dairy farming, why
not in forestry or mining?
• Remember it is possible to facilitate progress
by means of Special Purpose Vehicles, such as
was used to successfully conclude negotiations in
District 6.
• Don’t always look for government to solve your
problems. The people who know most about
your challenges are your neighbours and you;
and you and these neighbours are probably
best placed to reach a workable solution.
The minister concluded his address by wishing
all delegates good luck with their deliberations.
Unpacking the strategy of the
Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating
Commission – what’s in it for South
Africa’s rural people?
W
ise officials in government
(and there are quite a few
of them), recognise that
in order to accelerate its
progress, South Africa
needs to transform the economic landscape of
the country; by creating a significant number
of new jobs; by strengthening the delivery of
basic services to the people, and by giving
more meaningful support to the integration of
African economies. In order to achieve these
critical goals, the country needs to upgrade and
maintain its infrastructure, and consequently
government has agreed an Infrastructure Plan, to
be managed and monitored by the Presidential
Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, the
PICC.
The PICC’s central role is to assess the
country’s infrastructure gaps through spatial
mapping, (which analyses future population
growth); by projecting reliable economic growth
figures, and by identifying areas of the country
which are not well served with water, electricity,
roads, sanitation and communication. Based
on this, seventeen Strategic Integrated Projects
(SIPs) have been developed and approved, to
support economic development and address
service delivery in the poorest provinces.
This analysis briefly examines each of these
seventeen projects with a view to identifying the
role of, and the probable benefits to, the work
the Department of Rural Development and Land
Reform, the DRDLR, and those who depend on
it.
1
SIP 3:
South Eastern node & corridor
development
The project will promote rural development
link). The additional rail capacity will shift coal
from road to rail in Mpumalanga with positive
environmental and social benefits. Supportive
logistics corridors will help to strengthen
Mpumalanga’s economic development.
Obviously, such a visionary effort cannot fail to
have a positive impact on rural development.
2
SIP 2:
Durban- Free State– Gauteng
Logistics and Industrial
Corridor
SIP 1:
Unlocking the Northern Mineral
Belt with the Waterberg as the
Catalyst
The project calls for investment in rail, water
pipelines, energy generation and transmission
infrastructure to catalyse the unlocking of the
rich mineral resources in Limpopo resulting in
thousands of direct jobs across the area. Urban
development in the Waterberg will result in the
first major post apartheid new urban centre and
will be a “green” development project. Mining
includes coal, platinum and other minerals
for local use and export, and the rail capacity
is being extended to Mpumalanga power
stations and for export principally via Richards
Bay, and, in future, Maputo (via the Swaziland
production centres surrounding the corridor
that are currently isolated from the main
logistics system. Clearly any attempt to integrate
marginalised rural production centres will have
the full backing of the DRDLR at regional and
national level.
This project will strengthen the logistics and
transport corridor between SA’s main industrial
hubs; improve access to Durban’s export and
import facilities, raise efficiency along the
corridor and integrate the Free State Industrial
Strategy activities into the corridor and integrate
the currently disconnected industrial and
logistics activities as well as marginalised rural
through a new dam at Umzimvubu, with
irrigation systems, and the N2- Wildcoast
Highway which
will improve
access into KZN
and national
supply chains;
strengthen
economic
development
in PE through a
manganese rail
capacity from
the N Cape, a
manganese sinter
(NC) and smelter
(EC); possible
Mthombo refinery
(Coega) and transshipment hub at Ngqura and port and rail
upgrades to improve industrial capacity and
performance of the automotive sector. The
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focus of this project will be on some of the most
deprived areas of our country and cannot fail to
benefit the rural poor.
The goal of this project is to develop a national
capacity to assist the 23 least resourced
districts (12 million people) to address all
SIP 4:
Unlocking the economic
opportunities in North West
Province
Lechesa Tsenoli, Deputy
Minister of Rural Development
and Land Reform
an integrated manner, through rail and port
expansion, back-of-port industrial capacity
(which may include an Industrial Development
Zone), and strengthening of maritime support
This strategic project involves acceleration
of identified investments in roads, rail, bulk
water and water treatment, and transmission
infrastructure, resulting in reliable supply to
meet basic social needs, and facilitate the
further development of mining, agricultural
activities and tourism opportunities and open
up beneficiation opportunities in the North
West Province. The project promises numerous
skills and job-creation opportunities for the rural
communities of the North West.
SIP 5:
Saldanha-Northern Cape
Development Corridor
This worthy project aims to develop the
Saldanha-Northern Cape linked region in
the maintenance backlogs and upgrades
required in water, electricity and sanitation bulk
infrastructure. The road maintenance programme
will enhance the service delivery capacity and
thereby impact positively on the population.
This development is plumb in the centre of the
rural development canvas; the people of the 23
“distressed” districts represent the department’s
priority concern, and this project will be music to
the ears of millions.
capacity to create economic opportunities from
the gas and oil activities along the African West
Coast. For the Northern Cape - expansion of
iron ore mining production. Often neglected in
terms of national priorities, the rural folk of the
Northern Cape deserve a shot in the arm and
this is it.
SIP 7:
Integrated Urban Space and
Public Transport Programme
SIP 6:
Integrated Municipal
Infrastructure Project
The plan here is to coordinate planning and
implementation of public transport, human
settlement, economic and social infrastructure
and location decisions into sustainable urban
settlements connected by densified transport
and rural tourism infrastructure.
This project lies at the heart of the core business
of the department, and the additional support,
particularly when accompanied by improved
coordination, will be greatly appreciated by
millions.
corridors. Improvements in public transport
and social infrastructure, at any point in the
country, are welcomed by all people who live
in rural areas, particularly those who have family
members who are frequent visitors.
SIP 8:
Green Energy in support of the
South African economy
SIP 10:
Electricity Transmission and
Distribution for all
A project to support sustainable green energy
initiatives on a national scale through a diverse
range of clean energy options as envisaged in
the IPR2010 and to support biofuel production
facilities. There can be no viable biofuel activity
without intense agricultural activity and,
thankfully, it is the people in rural communities
who will be doing the work.
SIP 9:
Electricity Generation to
support socio-economic
development
Project 10 seeks to expand the transmission
and distribution network to address historical
imbalances, provide access to electricity for all
and support
economic
development. It
will align the 10year transmission
plan, the
services backlog,
the national
broadband
roll-out and the
freight rail line
development
to leverage
off regulatory
approvals, supply
chain and project development capacity. Once
again, all efforts to improve power supply will
make a big difference to rural development.
SIP 11:
Agri-logistics and rural
infrastructure
A project to improve investment in
agricultural and rural infrastructure that supports
expansion of production and employment,
small-scale farming and rural development,
including facilities for storage (silos, freshproduce facilities, packing houses); transport
This project seeks to accelerate the
construction of new electricity generation
capacity in accordance with the IRP2010 to
meet the needs of the economy and address
historical imbalances. Electricity, or the lack of
it, is probably the single greatest impediment
to rural growth, and all efforts to enlarge the
customer base will be widely welcomed in rural
communities.
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links to main networks (rural roads, branch
train-line, ports), fencing of farms, irrigation
schemes to poor areas, improved R&D on
rural issues (including expansion of agricultural
colleges), processing facilities (abattoirs, dairy
infrastructure), aquaculture incubation schemes
SIP 12:
Revitalisation of public
hospitals and other health
facilities
The project also plans to improve infrastructure
development for higher education focusing
on lecture
rooms, student
accommodation,
libraries and
laboratories
as well as ICT
connectivity. There
will be emphasis
on development
of university towns
with a combination
of facilities from residence, retail and recreation
and transport. Potential to ensure shared
infrastructure such as libraries by universities,
FETs & other educational institutions. Improved
access to quality health care and upgraded
education facilities is sorely needed in rural
communities, so this initiative is most welcome.
SIP 13:
National school build
programme
A national school build programme driven by
uniformity in planning, procurement, contract
management and provision of basic services. It
aims to replace inappropriate school structures
and address basic service backlog and provision
of basic services under the Accelerated School
Infrastructure
Delivery Initiative
(ASIDI). In addition
it will address
national backlogs
in classrooms,
libraries, computer
labs and admin
buildings.
Improving
the learning
environment will
go a long way to
improve outcomes,
especially in the rural schools, as well as reduce
overcrowding. Good basic education is the
key to all further educational success. School
infrastructure backlogs in rural areas are proving
a severe handicap to educational success, no
matter how bright the learner, and this initiative
is overdue.
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the SKA, which is to be constructed in a deeply
rural area, is a source of pride and inspiration for
rural folk throughout the nation.
SIP 17:
Regional Integration for African
cooperation and development
SIP 14:
Higher Education Infrastructure
Infrastructure development for higher
education focusing on lecture rooms, student
accommodation, libraries and laboratories as well
as ICT connectivity. Development of university
towns with a combination of facilities, from
residence, retail and recreation and transport.
Potential to ensure shared infrastructure such as
libraries by universities, FETs & other educational
institutions. Situating institutions of higher learning
away from areas of high population density has
worked well in the past (eg Fort Hare, Rhodes),
and can do in the future.
SIP 15: Expanding access to
communication technology
Provide for 100% broadband coverage to all
households by 2020 by establishing core Points
of Presence (POP’s) in district municipalities,
extend new Broadband Infraco fibre networks
across provinces, linking districts; establish POP’s
and fibre connectivity at local level, and further
penetrate the network into deep rural areas.
While the private sector will invest in ICT
infrastructure for urban and corporate networks,
government will co-invest for township and rural
access as well as for e-government, school and
health connectivity.
The school rollout focus initially on the 125
Dinaledii (science and math focussed) schools and
1525 district schools. Part of digital access to all
South Africans includes TV migration nationally
from analogue to digital broadcasting. Nothing
is more likely to advance the cause of rural
South Africa than the spread of broadband and
increased access to current and emerging ICT
technologies. Very exciting news.
SIP 16:
SKA & Meerkat
SKA is a global mega science project, building
an advanced radio-telescope facility linked
to research infrastructure and high speed ICT
capacity and provides an opportunity for Africa
and South Africa to contribute towards advanced
science. Our country’s recently successful bid for
A project to encourage participation in mutually
beneficial infrastructure projects; to unlock long
term socio-economic benefits, by partnering with
fast growing African economies’ with projected
growth ranging between 3% and 10%.
The projects, which involve transport, water
and energy, also provide competitively priced
diversified, short, medium to long term options
for the South African economy where for
example, electricity transmission in Mozambique
(Cesul) could assist in providing cheap, clean
hydro power in the short term, whilst Grand Inga
in the DRC will provide for the longer term.
All these projects complement the Free Trade
Area (FTA) to create a market of 600 million
people in South, Central and East Africa.
There is no doubt that SA’s rural growth will be
spurred by growth in the region, and hopefully,
not only will our own successful regional
development initiatives be duplicated by our
neighbours, but we can also learn from their
successes and apply similar techniques in South
Africa.
In summary then, there is no single aspect of the
17 Strategic Integrated Projects that will not affect
the growth and progress of rural South Africa, and
the millions of people who live the rural life look
forward to the progress of these projects with
keen anticipation.
Justice for “Betterment”
planning victims in sight!
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Thami Mdontswa Deputy Chief Land Claims Commissioner
provide
for the
re-opening
of the
lodgement
of restitution
claims, by
people who
missed the
deadline
I
n the State of the Nation Address of
February 14th, President Jacob Zuma
declared that “there are proposed
amendments to the Restitution of Land
Rights Act, 1994, in order to provide for
the re-opening of the lodgement of restitution
claims, by people who missed the deadline of 31
December 1998.”
The question of the right to lodge claims for
restitution, by persons or communities who
failed to lodge their claims by 31 December
1998, has been a festering sore in a number of
communities, and the reopening of the right
to lodge such claims will be very welcome,
particularly amongst communities dispossessed
of their land by the so-called “Betterment”
planning policies.
Historically, dispossessions which took place
as a result of the implementation of these
“Betterment” policies were excluded from the
restitution process by the 1997 White Paper
on South African Land Policy. The White Paper
stated that redress for such dispossessions
would be provided through land tenure security
programmes, land administration reform and
land redistribution support programmes.
These “Betterment” planning policies were
implemented between the 1940s and 1980s,
with the aim of regulating access to land, its
control and usage in the former Bantustans.
The policies regulated the division of land
into residential, arable and grazing sections;
influenced the creation of villages, and placed
other restrictions on land usage, including stock
culling.
As a direct
result people
were moved
to residential
zones, in
the process
losing
residential,
arable and
grazing land
which they
had used for
generations.
The land
that was
available to
households,
for farming purposes, was drastically reduced,
mostly barren and incapable of producing
sufficient food to sustain
families. The loss of the land
forced people, especially men,
to leave the rural areas and seek
employment in the mines, urban
areas and white owned farms.
“Betterment” was
implemented directly by the
South African Government,
working in collusion with the
puppet governments of the
former Bantustans, to further
the segregationist agenda of the
apartheid state.
During the 1998 ‘stake
your claim’ campaign, the
Commission on Restitution of
Land Rights called on people to
lodge claims, but those who had lost their land
through “Betterment” planning policies were
discouraged from lodging claims in terms of the
Restitution Act.
By 2003 it had become clear that the
1997 White Paper was mistaken in excluding
“Betterment”
dispossessions
from the
restitution
process,
as was the
recommendation
of the Commission
aimed at
discouraging
“Betterment”
victims from
lodging claims.
But by this time
the deadline for
lodgement of
claims had passed.
The few
claims that had
been lodged timeously were processed by
the Commission, and restitution was given
to communities by the Minister of Rural
Development and Land Reform, and by the Land
Claims Court.
The bitter fact is that those who failed to claim,
for whatever reason, are not presently eligible
for restitution, and this has caused widespread
concern.
In the Eastern Cape, for example, those
excluded formed Vulamasango Singene, a
pressure group that has been advocating for
redress for the 800 communities who constitute
its membership. Communities in other former
Bantustans were similarly affected.
Following engagements with government
lasting more than six years, Vulamasango Singene
sued government for damages.
Now, finally, with the President’s
announcement, the issue of entitlement to
lodge claims has been placed squarely on
the table. Communities who were victims of
both the “Betterment” planning process, and
miscommunication, will hopefully soon be able
to seek redress through the restitution process,
so bringing closure to this whole unhappy
episode. For these badly treated people and
their long suffering communities, things may be
getting “Better” at last.