Afrikaner files even bigger land claim
Almost the entire Tshwane metro faces a new land claim, but this time from an Afrikaner who said his family’s land and those of other neighbours, had been illegally taken from them by the South African Union government of Jan Smuts between 1914 and 1917.
Pretoria metro residents are yet again facing a massive land claim – this time from an Afrikaner whose claim stretches from the Roodeplaat dam in the north, past Bronkhorspruit dam and Boksburg on the East Rand and includes half of Centurion and the east of the city.
Dave Christie has launched his claim with the Gauteng Commission of Restitution of Land Rights on among others, the entire Roodeplaat and Roodeplaat dam area, stating that the land had been unlawfully expropriated from his great grandmother’s mother, Catherina Bezuidenhout, by the Union of South Africa.
The claim also involves the neighbouring land of 24 other Afrikaner families who had legally owned land that, according to Christie, had been taken from them without any compensation by the Jan Smuts government after the Anglo Boer War during 1914 and 1917.
He said despite attempts by the land claims commission not to accept his claim documentation, arguing that the law was only aimed at “native land restitution”, Christie said the body eventually accepted the claim forms and he had received documentation from the commission confirming this.
“I explained to them that the Afrikaner was also native to South Africa and eventually they accepted my argument,” Christie told Rekord.
“The commission asked for a few additional outstanding documents and gave me until 4 May to hand these over and I will do just that,” Christie said. The claim was handed in about three weeks ago.
According to Christie, his was the first land claim by a white South African, but this could not be confirmed by Rekord at the time of going to print.
The land claimed by Christie starts about 70km north of Roodeplaat Dam, past Bronkhorspruit, includes Delmas, Springs and Balmoral, half of Centurion and a large part of the east of the city.
He said the massive farm Roodekoppies, which had legally belonged to his mother’s family, the Bezuidenhouts, and on which they lived and worked before 1895, had been cut up, sold and turned into a nature reserve by the Union of South Africa.
“Many of my family’s neighbouring farms suffered the same fate after the owners had been forced to the cities to make a living as a result of the scorched-earth policy by the British during the war in which everything on farms were destroyed when the Boer soldiers returned after the war and the women and children – those who survived – had been released from the concentration camps.
“Although they still legally owned the farms, they had been forced to seek employment on the mines and railways to survive and many left their farms unattended,” he said, “after which their land was merely taken by the government and divided into smaller farms or for other purposes.”
He said his claim currently included land on which there were at least five dams and two power stations and even the Cullinan diamond mine.
The Boere-Republikeine organisation last week said it was watching Chrisie’s claim with hawk eyes, saying they were interested in the outcome and government’s enforcement of land restitution legislation.
Piet Rudolph, Boere-Republikeine organiser, said in a statement the land rights of the Boers had been completely ignored by land restitution legislation in that the cut-off date had been set at 19 June 1913 – thereby completely ignoring the plight of the Boers who had their land illegally expropriated.
Setting out the history of what had happened to Afrikaners after the Anglo-Boer War and how the British colonialists had deprived them of a way of earning a living on their farms, Rudolph said legislation completely ignored history, to the detriment of the Boers.
“The mere denial of these historic facts shows a total disregard of the wrongs of the past and a complete lack of balance and transparency and makes a mockery of justice,” he stated.
Talking about the other land claims that had been submitted, especially the latest one by the late Velaphi Lekhuleni which also included the entire north-east of the Tshwane, Rudolph demanded that a letter addressed to the land claims commissioner setting out the history of the Boer be taken into consideration when dealing with the Lekhuleni claim.
Read: “Chief” land claimant shot and killed
Massive land claim in east and north of Pretoria
Residents call for land claim to be rejected
Massive land claim shocks parts of Pta
For more community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
Also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free breaking news update.
