THE reopening of the land claims process heralds a new milestone in the government’s efforts to address the healing of our nation and the restoration of justice to the majority whose land was usurped by unlawful means during the wicked era of apartheid.
Restitution is now in full swing and all those who could not lodge claims in the first window may do so until June 2019.
But as long as there are skewed land ownership patterns there can never be socio-economic harmony in the country.
Land is central in the livelihoods of the communities.
Communities blessed with vast amounts of land are wallowing in wealth while their landless counterparts live in grinding poverty.
Our country is replete with examples of landless people in the 24 poorest districts of our country.
The department of rural development has the mammoth task of bringing out of poverty each year 400000 people in these districts.
Most had their land taken away from them or were unceremoniously removed from their homes and sustainable, self-sufficient farming livelihoods. Apartheid removed them to make way for big-time commercial farming and other commercial undertakings.
Forced removals were not limited to the rural areas.Most urban blacks were victims of the obnoxious Group Areas Act, with its weird spatial stipulations that established race-based residential areas.
The first town to boot out blacks from the suburbs was East London, which dumped them in the squalor of black townships in September 1949.
The Group Areas Act was one of the first apartheid laws to initiate assaults on the dignity and socio-economic wellbeing of the aborigines of this country. The forced removal regime was in place from June 1913 until the people of the country, through their liberation organisations, called a halt to them in 1994.
It hurts to think of the people of fertile Tsitsikama outside Port Elizabeth, who were kicked out at the barrel of a gun by the South African Defence Force in 1977.
The Fingo community was bundled into army trucks and carted away to the poor Keiskammahoek area of the defunct Ciskei Bantustan. They had to make way for the rich dairy farmers.
Fortunately, rural development buffs in Pretoria had other ideas. They reinstated those Tsitsikama destitutes and provided them with post-settlement support that saw them resume their farming.
The reopening of the land claim process as announced last week by that land reform maestro, Minister Gugile Nkwinti, is long overdue, delayed by well-off mobs who own almost the entire land space.
This selfish lot advocates retention of the status quo.
People complain about the disorderly structure of the economy, which has led to the impoverishment of the majority.
The disparities embedded in land ownership patterns is the first port of call to achieve equality. Landlessness causes poverty because one can’t grow food. Land ownership also enables one to generate money by trading in surplus produce and livestock.
There has been mendacious argument that farming, as a business, does not make one rich.
In 2010, 11 emergent farmers were put, by Nkwinti, through the new recapitalisation and development programme in the Free State. Within four years, some had become millionaires and the rest have comfortable bank balances.
Farming needs only dedication and the love of this art.
Reopening the land claims process has not been without hiccups.
Several people, particularly those who had benefited from the colonial wars of dispossession and apartheid laws, have vehemently opposed it.
False arguments and red herrings are being bandied about.
We were told that the investors will shun our country if we proceeded with the restoration of the land to its rightful owners as, if the deprivation of black people of their land would lead to an avalanche of investment.
The truth is that foreign investment seldom cascades down the socio- economic ladder to extricate the poor from their predicament.
Others have argued the costs of reopening the lodgement process might crush the economy.
Their other fallacy was that the department of rural development and land reform lacked the capacity to cope with an increased volume of land claims.
The restitution process is not a project. It has got to be done over many years, using finances from the fiscus until all those who were aggrieved are redressed.
However, I must call on the new land claimants to heed the call of Nkwinti that they should opt for land instead of money this time around.
Some of our countrymen view the reopening of land claims with scepticism, as if it was something new in the world.
The reopening of the lodgement process is a global phenomenon.
It has been done in European countries such as Germany after World War 2 and again later, with the unification of East and West Germany.
The United States has several times reopened its land claims process. So we are not doing something out of the ordinary here.
The department of rural development and land reform is far better prepared this time around.
Several strategies to expedite processing the claims have been put in place.
The department has shifted from manually processing the claims to a high-tech electronic system.
A citizen manual in all official languages and the main Khoisan language has been compiled to assist the aspirant claimants.
More human capital has been drafted in to overcome the huge workload.
The department has 14000 youth trainees of the National Rural Youth Service Corps who will be deployed to assist in this national effort to restore justice.
The lodgement of a land claim is a free and paperless process. Land claimants need only bring to their local restitution office their identity documents.
They should also report to the police those who want to swindle them by offering to assist with the lodgement of land claims for a fee.
Several people have already fallen victims to these scams in several provinces across the country.
The Restitution and Land Rights Amendment Act makes it a criminal offence for anyone to lodge a false land claim.
The people of South Africa who were previously dispossessed of it now stand a chance once more to reclaim their land.
Mtobeli Mxotwa is a columnist and a spokesman of the Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform
Relaunch offers new hope for healing and justice
Restitution is now in full swing and all those who could not lodge claims in the first window may do so until June 2019.
But as long as there are skewed land ownership patterns there can never be socio-economic harmony in the country.
Land is central in the livelihoods of the communities.
Communities blessed with vast amounts of land are wallowing in wealth while their landless counterparts live in grinding poverty.
Our country is replete with examples of landless people in the 24 poorest districts of our country.
The department of rural development has the mammoth task of bringing out of poverty each year 400000 people in these districts.
Most had their land taken away from them or were unceremoniously removed from their homes and sustainable, self-sufficient farming livelihoods. Apartheid removed them to make way for big-time commercial farming and other commercial undertakings.
Forced removals were not limited to the rural areas.Most urban blacks were victims of the obnoxious Group Areas Act, with its weird spatial stipulations that established race-based residential areas.
The first town to boot out blacks from the suburbs was East London, which dumped them in the squalor of black townships in September 1949.
The Group Areas Act was one of the first apartheid laws to initiate assaults on the dignity and socio-economic wellbeing of the aborigines of this country. The forced removal regime was in place from June 1913 until the people of the country, through their liberation organisations, called a halt to them in 1994.
It hurts to think of the people of fertile Tsitsikama outside Port Elizabeth, who were kicked out at the barrel of a gun by the South African Defence Force in 1977.
The Fingo community was bundled into army trucks and carted away to the poor Keiskammahoek area of the defunct Ciskei Bantustan. They had to make way for the rich dairy farmers.
Fortunately, rural development buffs in Pretoria had other ideas. They reinstated those Tsitsikama destitutes and provided them with post-settlement support that saw them resume their farming.
The reopening of the land claim process as announced last week by that land reform maestro, Minister Gugile Nkwinti, is long overdue, delayed by well-off mobs who own almost the entire land space.
This selfish lot advocates retention of the status quo.
People complain about the disorderly structure of the economy, which has led to the impoverishment of the majority.
The disparities embedded in land ownership patterns is the first port of call to achieve equality. Landlessness causes poverty because one can’t grow food. Land ownership also enables one to generate money by trading in surplus produce and livestock.
There has been mendacious argument that farming, as a business, does not make one rich.
In 2010, 11 emergent farmers were put, by Nkwinti, through the new recapitalisation and development programme in the Free State. Within four years, some had become millionaires and the rest have comfortable bank balances.
Farming needs only dedication and the love of this art.
Reopening the land claims process has not been without hiccups.
Several people, particularly those who had benefited from the colonial wars of dispossession and apartheid laws, have vehemently opposed it.
False arguments and red herrings are being bandied about.
We were told that the investors will shun our country if we proceeded with the restoration of the land to its rightful owners as, if the deprivation of black people of their land would lead to an avalanche of investment.
The truth is that foreign investment seldom cascades down the socio- economic ladder to extricate the poor from their predicament.
Others have argued the costs of reopening the lodgement process might crush the economy.
Their other fallacy was that the department of rural development and land reform lacked the capacity to cope with an increased volume of land claims.
The restitution process is not a project. It has got to be done over many years, using finances from the fiscus until all those who were aggrieved are redressed.
However, I must call on the new land claimants to heed the call of Nkwinti that they should opt for land instead of money this time around.
Some of our countrymen view the reopening of land claims with scepticism, as if it was something new in the world.
The reopening of the lodgement process is a global phenomenon.
It has been done in European countries such as Germany after World War 2 and again later, with the unification of East and West Germany.
The United States has several times reopened its land claims process. So we are not doing something out of the ordinary here.
The department of rural development and land reform is far better prepared this time around.
Several strategies to expedite processing the claims have been put in place.
The department has shifted from manually processing the claims to a high-tech electronic system.
A citizen manual in all official languages and the main Khoisan language has been compiled to assist the aspirant claimants.
More human capital has been drafted in to overcome the huge workload.
The department has 14000 youth trainees of the National Rural Youth Service Corps who will be deployed to assist in this national effort to restore justice.
The lodgement of a land claim is a free and paperless process. Land claimants need only bring to their local restitution office their identity documents.
They should also report to the police those who want to swindle them by offering to assist with the lodgement of land claims for a fee.
Several people have already fallen victims to these scams in several provinces across the country.
The Restitution and Land Rights Amendment Act makes it a criminal offence for anyone to lodge a false land claim.
The people of South Africa who were previously dispossessed of it now stand a chance once more to reclaim their land.
Mtobeli Mxotwa is a columnist and a spokesman of the Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform
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