Massive land claim might be invalid
The Regional Land Claims Commission had appointed an independent researcher to study the land claim by Victor Lekhuleni in depth and an urgent meeting between the commissioner and interested parties will be called in the near future to clarify the status quo.
The fact that a massive land claim involving almost the entire north-east of the Tshwane metro had been published in the Government Gazette did not automatically mean that the claim lodged was valid, the office of the regional land claims commission said on Wednesday.
In addition, the Land Claims Court noted that a 1% arguable case in favour of the claim existed and that the claim met the minimum requirements for acceptance in terms of legislation.
However, a stakeholder meeting will be arranged urgently where all interested parties will be invited for comments and clarity regarding the land claims by Victor Lekhuleni which were published in the Gazettes of 12 December 2014 and 6 February this year respectively.
Reacting to articles about the land claims published by Rekord exclusively last Thursday, the land claims commissioner, by mouth of Mkhacani Makamu, issued a media statement giving some clarification about the publication of the claims in the Government Gazette.
The 48-year-old Victor Lekhuleni, paramount chief of the Mkwaduba of the Bakgatla be Lekhuleni tribe, claimed his people had been removed from the farm Franspoort by the police during the 1950s and early 1960s. The farm Franspoort covers the entire area of his claim.
The claim was based on issues such as ancestral usage of the land, grazing of animals and foraging for wood. Lekhuleni also claimed that his people had used the land for initiation ceremonies.
It involves land starting from Wapadrand in the east of Pretoria stretching north through Die Wilgers and La Montagne to Mamelodi and over the mountain to Derdepoort. From East to West the claim starts in Cullinan and runs to the CSIR near Lynnwood and includes parts of the eastern Moot.
It includes some 500 private properties, several schools, churches, shopping centres, Tshwane metro and government-owned land.
According to the commissioner, Lekhuleni alleged that he had lodged a land claim in the prescribed manner before the initial cut-off date of 31 December 1998 on behalf of the Lekhuleni community. The cut-off date was recently extended for a period of five years and the new cut-off date is 30 June 2019.
“During the investigations the Regional Land Claims Commissioner (RLCC) found the claim to be non-compliant in terms of Section 2 of the Restitution Act as there were no records of such a claim having been lodged.”
In 2010, Lekhuleni took the RLCC’s decision to the Land Claims Court and the court found the claim to have been properly lodged and ordered the commission to deal with the matter. Following investigations after the court order, the RLCC upheld its decision that the land claim was never lodged,” the commission stated on Wednesday.
Lekhuleni however then approached the Land Claims Court in terms of Section 36 of the Restitution Act for review of the RLCC’s decision.
“The Land Claims Court noted that there is a 1% arguable case and that the land claim meets the minimum requirements for acceptance in terms of the Act,” the commission said in its statement.
A court order had then been issued compelling the RLCC to publish the claim in the Government Gazette and to conduct further research in terms of Rule 5.
“The court order, therefore, did not validate the claim but simply ordered the RLCC to accept the claim for further investigations and to publish the acceptance of the claim in the Government Gazette. Note that this does not automatically mean that the claim lodged is valid.”
According to the commission, in line with Section 12 of the Restitution Act, it had since appointed an independent researcher to do further investigations into Lekhuleni’s land claim.
Meanwhile, a task team had been put together by residents and other interested parties which will coordinate and steer objections to Lekhuleni’s claim. The committee can be contacted by email at landclaims2@gmail.com.
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