- Three communities are a step closer to land restitution.
- These claims are in Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape.
- The next step is for the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to transfer ownership.
Three communities that have applied for land claims are a step closer to restitution.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said she signed off on the claims in Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape.
Seven properties in North West's Madibeng municipality – amounting to 234 hectares valued at about R4.7 million – were approved to settle the restitution claim of the Mekgareng community.
Their claim was registered before the December 1998 cut-off date for restitution claims and the North West Regional Land Claims Commission confirmed that it was a valid claim.
The Mekgareng and Rebotswe communities were forcibly removed from their properties under the Natives Land Act of 1913.
The department signed off on 13 state-owned properties amounting to 0.6529 hectares in Strand to settle the Muhammed Haron family claim.
The family lodged claims on various parcels of land in the City of Cape Town, which they had been dispossessed of under the Group Areas Act, but these were not available for restoration.
Advancing work of 'land reform'
The Public Works-owned land in Strand, worth around R2.9 million, will be transferred to the family instead.
The Ngwaritsi family claim in Mpumalanga will be settled with the release of 9 807 hectares of land valued at approximately R83.4 million in the Thaba Chweu municipality.
About 126 households were dispossessed of their land under the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970.
They had put in their claim before the December 1998 cut-off date. The property request was eventually confirmed by the Mpumalanga Regional Land Claims Commission.
De Lille said in a statement:
The department said it intended to expedite other
claims too.
De Lille said she has written to Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Thoko Didiza to inform her of the approval for releasing the land to these claimants.
De Lille said:
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