‘No such thing as communal land’

Traditional leaders attending a three-day Contralesa provincial policy conference in Mthatha have lashed out at the government for creating the wrong impression that rural communal land was owned by the people rather than by the traditional leaders.

National and Eastern Cape traditional leaders said their forefathers had led battles and wars against British colonialism and even against other invading tribes to protect their land.

“Communal land in rural areas is owned by traditional leaders. It is wrong to insinuate that communal land is owned by the people. The wars against land dispossession were even led by traditional leaders – kings and chiefs – and were supported by their people, the warriors,’’ said Contralesa secretarygeneral Chief Xolile Ndevu.

“We are not saying that people must be suppressed, but we are stating the fact as it comes to communal land ownership.”

Contralesa said a number of pieces of legislation passed by the government, like the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (Spluma) and the Communal Tenure Policy, were a ploy to dismiss the authority of traditional leaders in the ownership of communal land in rural areas.