Restoring people’s dignity

The recent handover of R13m by Deputy Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Mcebisi Skwatsha as compensation to 122 families who were removed from their ancestral land in Lawaaikamp, George, from 1950 to 1986, emphasises the department’s continued efforts to restore the dignity of South Africans whose land was seized during apartheid.

Despite the Constitutional Court ruling in July 2016 that the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act was invalid, after it found that Parliament had failed to allow for proper consultation before passing the law, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform continues to work hard.

Minister Gugile Nkwinti said in his budget vote speech that the department was working towards transforming the Land Claims Commission into a chapter nine institution. This is prudent thinking because land dispossessions happened for more than 300 years and it will take more than a window of five years to redress its undesirable effect, which led to the loss of our people’s property rights.

Themba Mzula Hleko Pretoria