S.Africa Land News Online: Restitution in S.Africa Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE Edition #1 31 October 1997 Keep abreast of land reform in South Africa Subscribe to the newsletter! SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE brings you the latest on land reform in South Africa. It is written by South African journalists in South Africa and assembled and edited by Africa News Network. SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE joins our other individual newsletters from Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, providing news through our established network of journalists in southern Africa. We also distribute Southern Africa Trade Union News Online. SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE is brought to you through a co-operation between South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement in Denmark and Inform, Denmark's leading alternative information network. In this edition: Feature: RESTITUTION - PAINSTATING PROCESS FOR SOME Stories: 1. CHURCHES TO DEFINE THEIR ROLE IN SOUTH AFRICA'S REFORM 2. BITTERNESS AND CRITICISM GREET EXTENSION OF BILL 3. LAND RESTITUTION CLAIMS GIVEN NEW TIME SPAN 4. DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING COMMISSION TO TACKLE LAND REFORM 5. SOWING THE SEEDS OF PROGRESS 6. CONFLICT AS BOERS TREK TO NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES 7. CARAVANS STILL STAND IN GROENRIVIER 8. ORANGE FARM FINALLY A HOME 9. DROUGHT FOLLOWS EL NINO TO SOUTH AFRICA Feature: RESTITUTION - PAINSTATING PROCESS FOR SOME While communities are worried about the outcome of the hearing due to be held on December 19 when judges Fikile Bam and Meer gives their judgement, the South African National Defence Force is complaining about budget cuts. "Our outdated military equipments and the severity of the amount cut on our budget will disrupt defence function". This was said by the Minister of Defence Mr Joe Modise during the parliamentary defence review in August. He was raising concerns about the R4,1 billion cut from the defence budget. In the meantime while the Minister pleads for more money for his department, a number of communities are concerned about the slow process of restitution and the South African Defence Force's (SANDF) reluctance to let go of their land. The government's restitution process is supposed to ensure that people who were forcefully removed from their land get it back or be given equivalent reparation where this is not feasible. The South African Defence Force, is guilty of clinging tightly to the land confiscated from people during the apartheid era. Of the 217 038 ha they have given away since 1986, only 86 862 ha was for restitution purpose, the rest, 130 176 ha, has been given back to other government departments like the Departments of Conservation and Agriculture respectively. Currently 488 879 ha of land is in the hands of the SANDF and 9 restitution claims are lodged against them. Hostility and Confrontation Among its principles on restitution, the SANDF claims to be committed to the resolving of the land claims through a negotiated settlement and using the Land Claims Court as a last resort, yet the communities' attempts to bring the SANDF to negotiations have failed and frustration and harassment are the experiences they encounter as they battle to get their land back. The British army and other SADC countries recently joined the South African Defence Force in Lohatlha battle school in one of the SANDF's regular war exercises called Operation Ocean Wave ( there is no ocean near the battle school!). The 135 000 ha battle school is one of the many army bases `owned' by the SANDF, even the British Army, which joined the war exercise, commended the abundance of space they had in Lohatlha. It is also land claimed by three communities, two of whom Gatlhose and Maremane were forcefully removed in 1978 during the apartheid era. The third community, the Khosis (classified as coloureds during the apartheid era) remained on the land. Their livestock is often killed by stray missiles during military exercises and people are supposed to lock themselves indoors for a week to avoid being hit. The Gatlhose and Maremane communities were moved from the land where their livestock used to flourish and multiply and were dumped in Kuruman, a semi desert in the then Bophuthatswana homeland. Later the SANDF accommodated some Afrikaner farmers in other parts of the land for grazing purposes. Communities' attempts to have peaceful protests always ends up with hostility and confrontation from the military, from being bundled into military trucks and taken to police stations, to going through long interrogation processes. Crying children and women are not exempt to harassment. In an attempt to mediate in a tug of war between the army and communities, the State President, Mr Nelson Mandela, made recommendations on how the dispute could be resolved. Amongst his recommendations he stated that the SANDF should acknowledge that the communities are the rightful owners of the land, and the military should agree to lease the land from the communities for military purposes on an indefinite basis. He also suggested that an adjacent part of land which is currently used by farmers for grazing be bought for communities at the state's expense. Though the communities are willing to negotiate some of the President's recommendations, the SANDF is yet to show willingness to discuss the proposals. So far they (SANDF) have made allegations through the media that the communities were given R5 million as compensation, an allegations which the communities deny. For the sake of progress, the communities have appointed a five member steering committee to try to negotiate, but the only outcome has been the ferrying of these people across the country by the SANDF for meetings, no progress has been made and committee members are disillusioned. "We are tired of travelling without any positive outcomes. When the people give us a mandate to attend these meetings, they expect us to come back with something tangible," complained Mr Boniface Mosiane, one of the community representatives. Instead of working towards giving land back to the people, the SANDF has announced that Lohatlha is soon going to be upgraded. The opinions of the Northern Cape Provincial government poses an obstacle to the whole claim. According to the MEC for Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Land Reform in the Northern Cape Province, Mr Thabo Makweya, the military exercise will be a major plus for the Province, communities and the country as a whole. "The Northern Cape will strive to have the base as an asset to the community and to assist in putting the Province on the map," he explained. This raises eyebrows from communities who for four years have been sent from pillar to post. Communities also question the government's commitment to land reform and why the SANDF is allowed to carry on with the exercises. The restitution act clearly states that there should be no development or anything that will impede and delay the restitution process. " We thought the government we voted for will acknowledge and mend the wrongs done to us during apartheid era, but the minister does not even have the courtesy to meet with us to solve the problem." said Mr Josiah Gasehete, one of the community representatives. However, even with all the hardships and frustration that the Gatlhose, Maremane and Khosi communities have been through it seems that all is not lost after all. Judges S. Meer and Fikile Bam now hold the fate of Lohatlha in their hands. In the pretrial hearing recently held in Postmasburg, Northern Cape province, Judge Meer instructed the province's land claims commissioner, Wallace Mgoqi, to ensure that mediation teams are set up and negotiations started within fifteen days. The judge also expects all inputs and submissions to be handed in by December 19 this year. Mr Gasehete shares the same sentiments as his community when it comes to the SANDF and he does not see agreement being reached by December 19.It seems the Land Claims court will have the final word and who will come out smiling on that day remains to be seen. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytaf-10.31.97-21:57:56-28795