Land claim scaled down
The regional land claims commission had appointed an independent researcher to study the massive land claim by Victor Lekhuleni in depth, but the claimant said he only wanted un-developed land and not the homes, businesses or amenities of residents in the north-east of the Tshwane metro.
Land claimant Chief Velaphi Victor Lekhuleni now says he only wants the un-developed pockets of territory in the huge area he is claiming east and north of Pretoria.
Lekhuleni, who lives in Mamelodi, was last week reported as saying that should his claim succeed, the only wanted un-development land where restitution was possible.
The traditional leader said that most important to his people was the land parcel between the farms Nooitgedacht and Pienaarspoort, where the Lekhuleni chiefs had their annual initiation schools since the 1940s.
Residents and civil rights organisations are getting ready for the fight to protect their assets and amenities against his massive land claim.
The regional land claims commission (RLCC) has announced that it would hold the first stakeholder meeting to discuss the land claim on 7 March and has appointed an independent researcher to study the Lekhuleni claim in depth.
In a statement issued last week, the commission stressed the claim that had been published in the Government Gazette did not automatically mean the claim lodged was valid.
In addition, the Land Claims Court had noted that only a 1% arguable case in favour of the claim existed and that the claim met the “minimum requirements for acceptance” in terms of legislation.
The land claimed by Lekhuleni is worth billions of rand and stretches from Cullinan, all the way west to include, among others, the CSIR, Wapadrand, Die Wilgers, the Deutche Schule Pretoria, Silverton, Koedoespoort and several other schools, churches and shopping centres in the east of Pretoria.
To the north, the land claim included Mamelodi, Baviaanspoort Prison, Koedoespoort and several farms up to Derdepoort in the north of the Tshwane metro.
Some 500 privately-owned properties would be affaceted as well as Tshwane metro and national government-owned land.
Though Lekhuleni first lodged the claim – believed to be the largest in the country to date – in 1996, details of the claims were only published in the Government Gazettes of 12 December 2014 and 6 February this year respectively.
The 48-year-old Lekhuleni, paramount chief of the Mkwaduba of the Bakgatla be Lekhuleni tribe, claimed that 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.
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 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 was a 1% arguable case and that the land claim meets the minimum requirements for acceptance in terms of the Act,” the commission said, adding that the court then compelled 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.
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.
Civil rights organisation AfriSake, together with AfriForum, who also became involved, said it would fight the claim.
“There is a chance that this claim was significantly inflated with the purpose of claiming a high amount of compensation,” AfriSake executive head, Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg said, adding that readers could visit www.afrisake.co.za to obtain documentation regarding the claim.
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