Thousands ready to claim land

WITH civil society divided on the prospects of the new land-claim process, about 7000 new Eastern Cape claimants are gearing up to submit their land restitution claims, Border Rural Committee (BRC) programme officer Bonani Loliwe said.

The second five-year opening of the land-claim process for South African households and communities who had been victims of racially motivated dispossession after 1913 began on June 30. The five-year process will close in 2019 and the Commission on Land expects to spend up to R180-billion in the next 15 years on land, financial compensation and administration costs in settling the new claims.

Loliwe was encouraged by the reopening, saying during the first process, some communities had been told to withdraw claims and promised they would be made beneficiaries of other government initiatives, but this didn't happen,

However, Land Access Movement of South Africa coordinator Constance Mogale said judging by the way previous claims had been settled, the state did not have capacity to deal with the land question.

Deputy chief land claims commissioner Thami Mdontswa said they would prioritise existing claimants.

"Section 2 of the Act says priority is given to claimants who lodged claims before 1998 ahead of processing new claims," Mdontswa said. - Siviwe Feketha