Massive land claim shocks parts of Pta
A massive land claim, which affects the east of Pretoria stretching from Wapadrand, through Die Wilgers, Silver Lakes, Montana, Silverton and even the CSIR and Botanical Gardens all the way to Derdepoort in the far north of the metro, has residents up in arms.
Two massive land claims affecting private homes, schools, churches and businesses covering almost the entire north-east of the Tshwane metro have residents deeply worried.
A task team to fight the claim had already been set up on the weekend.
A community meeting was urgently called for Saturday where dozens of concerned residents gathered to discuss the claims. Residents from the east of the city also attended as well as other organisations such as AfriForum.
A task group, under chairmanship of attorney Sakkie Croukamp, was established and a notice of objection to the claim would be drafted as soon as possible.
The claims start at Wapadrand, cuts across Silver Lakes, Wilgers and La Montagne over the mountain all the way to Derdepoort in the north. In the east, it starts in Cullinan and stretches as far west as the CSIR near Lynnwood and includes part of the east of the Moot. Some 10 council wards are affected.
The claims involve at least 500 privately-owned properties, nine farms, shopping centres, churches, schools and Tshwane metro and government land. It includes property owned by the Canadian government.
Two land claims, one published in the Government Gazette of 12 December 2014 and the other on 6 February this year, were registered by a Ndeblele, 48-year-old Victor Lekhuleni, paramount chief of the Mkwaduba of the Bakgatla be Lekhuleni tribe.
He claims his people had been removed from the farm Franspoort by police during the 1950s and early 1960s. The farm Franspoort covers the entire area of his claim.
The claim was based on the ancestral usage of the land, grazing of animals and foraging for wood. Lekhuleni also claimed his people had used the land for initiation ceremonies.
Experts say if a land claim is lodged with the land claims commission, it is only published in the Government Gazette once the commission had decided that the claim had some validity.
Croukamp told the meeting Lekhuleni claimed the land and said current owners could rent it from him on a 99-year lease agreement. He said to properly object to the claim, research was of the utmost importance and owners should prepare themselves pro-perly for the objection to Lekhuleni’s claim.
According to the Gazette, interested parties had 60 days to respond to the claims.
In the east, the 6 February notice include Wapadrand, Die Wilgers, Deutche Schule Pretoria, Eersterust, Silverton, Koedoespoort, Mamelodi, Willow Ridge High School and La Montagne.
The 12 December claim affects Scientia (the CSIR and surrounding areas), the Botanical Gardens and other parts of Koedoespoort in the east.
From what Rekord could establish, those who attended the meeting were not aware of the December notice published in the Gazette. The 60 days granted by the commission to raise objections to that claim had already expired.
Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Duncan Baker said legal opinion about the 12 December Gazette notice would urgently be obtained.
Since Rekord published details of the 6 February claim online last Thursday, the newspaper had been inundated with calls from concerned property owners – some from as far as Australia – and lawyers from across the country offering their services to those affected by the claim.
At Saturday’s meeting, residents were urged not to act prematurely and it was stressed that Lekhuleni’s claim still had to be proven. In addition, objections had to be taken into consideration by the land claims commission.
“Ward councillors of the ten wards affected will not deal with the matter along party political lines, but rather in terms of our fiduciary duty to protect the interests of those residing and operating in our areas,” Baker, who attended Saturday’s meeting, said.
He said matter of land claims would in any event be dealt with on a much higher level than that of the council. “The over-all issue of land restitution is above our pay grade, as they say.”
A pro forma objection response to the claim had been drafted and residents were asked to use the document as a guideline only to spell out their own objections to the land claim and not to merely copy the pro forma document.
“If hundreds of the same document (the pro forma) are received by the commission, it gets treated as one blanket objection. Residents must please study the pro forma and formulate their own objections to prevent this from happening,” Baker urged.
Despite several calls to mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale, no comment from the council could be obtained about the two claims or the metro’s policy regarding claims on council-owned land.
Another claim, covering the same land, had already been lodged in 1996 by Matjila Levy. His claim was published in the Government Gazette in 2009.
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