The land claims court has ordered Amathole District Municipality to transfer the remainder of a R55m land claim payout earmarked for the development of nine villages in the Keiskammahoek area to the villagers.
The court also ordered the cash-strapped council to provide the thousands of claimants with a detailed, audited report on how funds were utilised.
The nine villages – lower Gxulu, upper Gxulu, upper Mnyameni, lower Mnyameni, upper Ngqumeya, Gwiligwili, Ndlovini, Ngobozana and Mthwaku – were awarded a R102m settlement after a successful land claim in 2002.
Some R47m of this was financial compensation for 1,704 families who had been dispossessed of their homes under apartheid’s “betterment programme” in the 1960s.
At the time of settlement, it was agreed that each claimant family should receive part of the compensation – R27,782 each in cash.
The remaining R55m was set aside for development projects and was left in the care of ADM to facilitate the implementation of such planned projects.
But R20m is still with ADM, the villagers said.
The claimants took the council to court, frustrated with delays in accounts of how some of the money had been used.
Speaking on behalf of the affected communities, Border Rural Committee’s managing director Phumeza Grootboom said the R55m was to be spent on projects identified through a development planning process, after a local community development plan was drafted to guide usage.
Grootboom said ADM had only built nine multipurpose halls in the affected villages, and bought two tractors, and that efforts in the past three years to find out what had happened to the rest of the funds had not been successful, forcing them to take the legal route.
“ADM had informed community members that R35m of that money had already been utilised, while only R20m remains, claims that did not sit well with such communities,” Grootboom said.
She said the nine community halls built “would never have cost R35m”.
He said they want the audited statements “to justify the payments made and to check whether expenses were legitimate or not”.
In his draft order judgment dated October 29, judge MP Canca ordered ADM to provide the communities with information relating to all funds held on behalf of them.
The judge also asked the municipality to furnish villagers with audited financial statements dating back to 2002.
“The respondent is also directed to release all funds or residue that are held on behalf of the applicant, to a bank or institution to be named by the applicants within 14 days from the date of this order,” said Canca.
ADM municipal manager Thandekile Mnyimba on Monday said the municipality was attending to the matter.
“Yes, I have been made aware of such developments by our legal unit. I have now instructed ADM’s legal team to attend to the matter within the timeframe set out in the judgment,” said Mnyimba.
The judge gave the municipality 14 working days from the day of the judgment, meaning, the municipality has to comply with the judgment by Friday as that is the last day...