AfriForum continues to oppose Centurion land claim

AfriForum remains positive it will be able to oppose the 20-year-old land claim currently affecting various properties across Centurion.

The organisation previously requested further information pertaining to the claim from the department of rural development and land reform.

“We have now received all the necessary information we need to successfully oppose the claim,” said AfriForum legal and risk manager Marnus Kamfer.

“Our legal and historical research teams are working hard to put together their reports.

“But they are very positive at this stage.”

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Kamfer said extensive research was being conducted with regards to the claim.

“Our historical research team has to pore over decades of information in order to establish the validity of the claim.

“But we think it is safe to say our efforts have definitely helped to break the momentum of the claim.”

The claim, which AfriForum previously labelled opportunistic, currently affects about 2 000 households, it said.

It stems from an original application by one Zulu Kleinboy Mahlangu on 29 December 1998.

Mahlangu and 38 other households were claiming land rights to various properties around Centurion including Olievenhoutbosch, Rooihuiskraal, The Reeds and Hueweloord.

“AfriForum has been mandated by the Centurion community to object [to] the claim,” said Kamfer.

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“The community have put their feet (sic) down and for that reason, we now have the opportunity to conduct a proper investigation into the claim.”

At a public meeting in Centurion in December last year, the commission on the restitution of land rights made it clear preliminary research had found the claim was valid “to some extent”.

Land reform minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane also assured residents that existing property rights in the area were secure.

She said the claimants would be compensated financially by the state instead.

AfriForum was opposing the claim in its entirety including the financial compensation of claimants.

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