SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE 9/4/97 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sender AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) 04 Sep 1997 12:26:31 GMT SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE Complimentary First Edition! 5 September 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, part of South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement in Denmark and publishers of i'Afrika, a quarterly magazine concentrating on southern Africa. SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE joins our other individual newsletters from Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, providing news through our established network of journalists in southern Africa. SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE is brought to you through a co-operation between South Africa Contact and Inform, Denmark's leading alternative information network. Feature: EVICTIONS AND SOUTH AFRICA'S SECURITY OF TENURE BILL Stories: 1. EXTENSION OF SECURITY OF TENURE - A VICTORY FOR FARM DWELLERS 2. BRANDWACHT COMMUNITY GETS LAND 3. REAL HOMES FOR RIEMVASMAAKERS 4. OWNERS WANT LADY SELBORNE BACK 5. MEASURES TO GET PEOPLE OFF LAND 6. TRESPASSING STILL APPLICABLE IN NEW ERA Feature: EVICTIONS AND SOUTH AFRICA'S SECURITY OF TENURE BILL Laws restricting the movements of farm workers date back to 1856 when the Cape Masters Act was passed. This act called for compulsory registration of farm servants. The 1913 Natives Land Act was the beginning of laws which stripped the independence of labour tenants, with the 1951 Prevention of Squatting Act empowering the minister to remove blacks from public or privately owned land and the Natives Land Act which eliminated independent sharecropping and rent tenancy in white owned areas. All the laws dating back to 1856 to 1979 are the cause of squatting, Bantustans and skew land distribution. Farm dwellers were not exempt from these harsh laws instead they bore the brunt. Then came the release of Nelson Mandela and the process towards democracy for South Africa. When political parties started campaigning for the 1994 elections, some of them approached farm dwellers and pleaded for their votes. Most farm dwellers tasted democracy on the sidelines but because their hopes and aspirations were raised, they strongly believed that it would not be long before they would get their homes back. Four years down the line and the number of people who are forcefully removed from their homes is increasing by the day. Squatting and exposure to an unhealthy way of living are the realities for evicted families. This suffering for farm dwellers in South Africa contradicts and is a mockery to the country's newly founded constitution. The right to a secure home and access to health facilities is yet to happen for the rural poor. Education seems to be not a right but a privilege for the children of farm dwellers as their future still lies in the hands of farmers. Evictions, harassment and confiscations urged concerned organisations to tackle the problem or to at least expose the real situation on farms. Old discriminatory laws, still applied in courts to restrict and oppress farm dwellers, had to be challenged. The farm dweller anti-eviction campaign, aimed at exposing evictions and the reluctance of farmers to acknowledge previous injustices, was launched by the National Land Committee late last year. This move pressurised the government to form a consultative process to deal with the evictions crisis. Later, in an attempt to accommodate all stake holders, the government invited organisations to come with their input on how best evictions could be combated and how farm dwellers, like any other South African, deserve to have their rights recognised and receive fair treatment. Unions for farmers and farm workers and the National Land Committee gave their input and the Extension of Security of Tenure Bill was drafted. Intensive lobbying by farmers and their organisations, and pressure they put on the government, led to the Bill being drastically changed. All positive clauses which seemed to acknowledge hardships endured by farm dwellers were scrapped and clauses which gave farmers reasons to evict people remained intact. This gave farmers reasons to praise the bill, until August 28 when it was passed in parliament with new and drastic changes - this time, in favour of farm dwellers. A clause which accepts termination of employment as valid reason to evict people from their homes was scrapped, and only people who violate agreements with a farmer and are a threat to other residents can be evicted, though there must be proof before eviction. Before the final amendment, farmers used the termination of employment clause to their advantage by `renewing' contracts of their permanent employees. The Bill states that people who have stayed more than 20 years on a farm should not be evicted. After evicting people who stood a chance of being protected by the Bill, they then re-employed them on short term contract basis as seasonal workers. The high level of illiteracy on farms worsened the situation because farm dwellers could not challenge eviction orders which they did not understand. The South African justice system does little to ensure that farmers who apply for an eviction order have valid reasons to do so. A farmer easily acquired an eviction order without being challenged, often because the local courts are linked to land owners through social and political ties. Sympathetic police were also called in to speed up the process by ensuring that farm dwellers were put out of their homes. Now with the drastic changes in the Bill, a court has to be convinced that a person to be evicted has contravened an agreement he has with a farmer. Research conducted by the Land Agricultural Centre (LAPC), has shown that women contribute about 80% of agricultural labour, mainly as unpaid family labour. Despite these findings and reality, widows and their children are the most vulnerable on South African farms. Contracts are signed with the man of the family and as soon as he dies, his family's destiny lay in the hands of the farmer. The bill now protects all dependants with at least a 12 months written notice having to be issued before eviction, and this can only take place when alternative accommodation is available. And this accommodation has to be not less favourable to the occupiers' previous situation. This includes access to land for agricultural use and services available to them prior to eviction. The government now has to commit itself to eviction monitoring in the country. Farmers argue that evictions are isolated cases and thus do not need legislation. Besides proving that evictions occur right across the country, monitoring is the only means which will ensure that evictions are challenged when the Bill is passed as legislation. Evictions dating back to February 4, when the bill was published, are supposed to be challenged in court. How possible this exercise will be remains a mystery because the government has not done enough to alert and ensure that farm dwellers know about the Bill, let alone recording evictions which have taken place since that date. A 78 year old man, Mr Solomon Mokoena, who was born on Deemster farm in the Free State province, is now expected to find a new home. "I am already bones yet I am supposed to look for a new home," lamented Mr Mokoena during a farm dweller convention which was held in Bloemfontein to alert workers about their rights and how the Bill affects them. There are 250 households in the Free State with people like Mr Mokoena. People who have been evicted since July 1996, with others following the same route and with eviction orders issued on a regular basis. In the North West Province, 7 people have been evicted since February this year and 25 in Mpumalanga in July. This is just the tip of the iceberg as monitoring only takes place in areas where NGOs and farm dweller unions operate. The situation is made even worse because farmers do not allow farm dwellers to attend these rural conventions. Field workers have come up with a different reason for requesting to have workshops with farm workers. " Farmers say if we corrupt their employees we should not bring them back to their farms," said Phumeza Grootboom of Border Rural Committee (BRC), one of the organisations which together with the Transkei Land Services Organisation (TRALSO), joined forces to organise and ensure that farm dwellers have their say on the Bill. The attempts of farmers to hold the government to ransom with the argument that agriculture is a major economic boost for the country and that the state needs to be careful not to put the agricultural sector into crisis, has failed. This argument does nothing but emphasise the importance of showing the important role that farm dwellers have in South Africa. "The only way I can make a living is through farming, I cannot think of doing anything else," said Mr John Mokgethea, who has been issued with an eviction order for demanding a living wage. His eviction order, along with 63 families, is due to expire soon, and after working on a farm for 40 years, he has to find a new home and means of survival. Now the bill states that all the who have resided on a farm for more that 10 years, and people who have reached 60 years of age, cannot be evicted and have user rights. It is not only sheer hard work and dedication, or luck, which ensured that farmers were seen as and regarded as the backbone of our economy today. It takes massive financial support and huge subsidies to ensure that they succeed. The ability and contribution of farm dwellers in South Africa is now at least recognised by the state, and this is an indication that the lives of farm dwellers are about to change. While organisations like the National Land Committee are preparing to empower farm dwellers by holding workshops and ensuring that they know their rights, the South African Farmers Union is not impressed by the outcome. In the meantime, while farmers and political parties backing them up are bitter about the power imbalance that is now due to change so dramatically, farm dwellers are intending to use this bill to their benefit. 1. EXTENSION OF SECURITY OF TENURE - A VICTORY FOR FARM DWELLERS The amendments and provisions made in the Security of Tenure Bill is a victory for farm dwellers who have been living in fear and uncertainty. Though farm dwellers expected to get stronger tenure protection for longer term occupiers, the Bill has at least been amended to ensure that people who have been living and working on a farm for ten years (twenty years before amendments), and occupiers who are 60 years of age, should not be evicted. Another section of the Bill states that right of residence for dependants may be terminated only on a 12 calendar month written notice and then only if it can be proved that they are guilty of whatever charges are laid against them. Another breakthrough is that farm dwellers should be given sufficient notice before eviction can take place and that no eviction should take place without alternative accommodation. This section is a victory since farmers previously evicted people without ensuring alternative accommodation. It was not only farmers and their unions who opposed the bill. They had the backing of the National Party(NP), the Conservative Party (CP), Freedom Front (FF) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). In his Parliamentary speech, the Minister of Land and Agriculture Derek Hanekom said, "those of you who welcomed this bill sleep well tonight, and those of you who opposed it go and talk to your conscious.". 2. BRANDWACHT COMMUNITY GETS LAND The Minister of Land Affairs, Derek Hanekom, made the community of Brandwacht proud owners of the land they have been denied for decades. The community benefited from the government's Land Reform redistribution programme which aims to allocate land to people who do not presently own land. The Brandwacht community is comprised of people who did not have alternative land after being evicted from farms. Although this piece of land has never been developed throughout the many years, the purchase price of the land stands at Rands 763 000. According to the Southern Cape Land Committee, people are still negotiating with the previous owner to consider reducing this amount which is said to be 15% above the market value. The community intends to use the surplus money for development and agricultural purposes. 3. REAL HOMES FOR RIEMVASMAAKERS They have spent the past three years living in tents after returning to their land. Now the Riemvasmaak community is about to get proper infrastructure. Approximately Rands 2 million has been allocated for the development of this community. Some of the money will be used to build 116 houses for the community, while the rest will be used to build a small scale town. Riemvasmaak was one of the many army bases the South African Defence Force used to own, after forcefully removing its rightful owners 21 years ago. Then they surrendered it to the community three years ago. Regaining their land was just the beginning for the Riemvasmaakers, as resettling brought other challenges. After two decades apart, they had to rebuild a sense of community, and development and rebuilding their lives from scratch are just some of the tasks they are faced with. The Riemvasmaak community group which returned to their land consisted mostly of pensioners who did not get their grants for some time, and young unemployed people. Exposure to live ammunition is just one of the problems they have had to deal with. Until the announcement of the government grant, Riemvasmaak had been one of South Africa's forgotten places. 4. OWNERS WANT LADY SELBORNE BACK Approximately 2000 people, who are currently spread around in Pretoria's townships and neighbouring villages, met to hear about the progress of claims they have lodged with the Land Claims Commission. The communities were forcibly removed from their land during the apartheid era because they lived next to white communities. Though they attempted to resist evictions, the long hand of discrimination and the overwhelming determination of the then regime used the police and bulldozers to destroy their homes, ensuring that nothing could be rebuilt. Addressing the communities, the Land Claims Commissioner, Mr Joe Seremane, said that the government has started to consider their claims. He explained that the Land Claims court would consider whether the dispossessed people wanted to return to their land or seek compensation. Lady Selborne is one of the 13 358 urban claims lodged with the Land Claims Commission. There are 4 500 rural claims. The Commission for Restitution is about to embark on an intensive campaign to alert the public about the cut off date for lodging claims, which is 1 May 1998. 5. MEASURES TO GET PEOPLE OFF LAND The anti squatter bill: "Prevention of Unlawful Occupation of Land Bill," meant to curb illegal occupation of land, is to be presented to the cabinet soon. This bill is supposed to provide local authorities with guidelines on how to deal with squatters. According to Neville Karsens, acting director general in the Department of Housing, the law will provide special measures that would be applied when there is an urgency to get people off the land. Land Claims VS Forced Removals and `Fair And Equitable Compensation'. There are supposed to be victims who received "fair and equitable compensation" during the forced removals times. This is according to an amendment made in the Restitution Act which states that claims may be turned down where fair and equitable compensation had been paid. The report recently tabled in parliament raised the question of what constituted fair compensation. According to the report, this will delay the restitution and land claims process, and it is hoped that the land claims court will give some guidelines on how these terms can be interpreted. 6. TRESPASSING STILL APPLICABLE IN NEW ERA All that Marion Cloete wanted was to find out if the police had an eviction order when she arrived on the scene. Little did she know that she would be charged with trespassing and obstructing justice. These charges were laid on Marion Cloete after she tried to intervene during evictions on the farm, Mariasdal, in Magaliesburg. She tried to get clarity about an eviction order when she arrived at the scene and the only response she got was silence and hostility from the police. As the police proceeded to get people off the farm, she stood in the middle and demanded an explanation. Instead of getting this, she was bundled into a police van and taken to the police station where she was charged. The people she was attempting to help were eventually evicted and are currently living in tents, after intensive negotiations with Magaliesburg Town Council to allocate them a piece of land on a temporary basis. ***************************** SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE Subscribe and keep abreast of land reform in South Africa If you would like to receive more information about SOUTH AFRICA LAND NEWS ONLINE, or about our newsletters from Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Angola and Mozambique, or our upcoming newsletters, please send an E-mail to: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk If you know of anyone else who might be interested in subscribing to South Africa Land News On-line, please let us know and tell them about us! 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