Wild Coast land returned to locals
Ground-breaking land claim agreement sees Sun International giving land back to KwaZulu-Natal’s Umgungundlovu families
The Umgungundlovu community, Sun International and the department of rural development & land reform have reached a landmark agreement that will see land on the KwaZulu-Natal Wild Coast including the land on which the Wild Coast Sun is built returned to the community.
Under the agreement, signed in Sandton last Monday, the community will get back 700ha of Indian Ocean-facing land, become a shareholder in the multimillion-rand Sun International resort, and receive rent for the land upon which it is built. Hundreds of Umgungundlovu families were forcibly removed from their land 37 years ago after hotel magnate Sol Kerzner negotiated a deal with the then Transkei homeland government to lease the land for the 430ha resort. Under that agreement, community members were required to “make way for the building of the casino and other facilities”.
In 1996 they lodged a land claim with the government.. Human rights lawyer Richard Spoor, who represented the land claimants, said the agreement had been concluded “after months of hard work’’. He said that in terms of the agreement, the land will be restored to the community before the end of November, and Sun International will rent the Wild Coast Sun land for R4m a year, at an escalating rate of 6% a year.
This is a far cry from the R2,500 a month Spoor said Kerzner had negotiated with Transkei prime minister George Matanzima. The agreement also stipulates that the land claimants will take a 28.4% shareholding in the resort and receive R27m from the government to develop those portions of the land not leased to Sun International.
“It also states that members of the community will enjoy preferential employment and procurement opportunities with the Wild Coast Sun, and that Sun International has agreed to donate R1m to be shared between the 117 households,” Spoor said. “This is what can be achieved if land claim communities are competently represented and government and business come to the party.”
Sun International COO Thabo Mosololi said the company was glad that the claim had been concluded and that definitive agreements had been signed by all the parties.
“The deal is the first of its kind, and is progressive as the community will partner with Sun International and share in its successes,” said Mosololi.
“This is a ground-breaking deal in that it not only addresses the initial land claim, but it also creates ongoing shared value for the community. The state and Umgungundlovu community, together with their advisers, are applauded for their efforts in getting this over the line.”
Skhumbuzo Mchunu, chair of the Umgungundlovu land claim group, said they were happy that the deal had been signed: “It has been decades of struggle, frustrations, degradation, false promises, hope, despair and everything in between. It took years to conclude this deal but now we can see the end of the tunnel.”
Mchunu said the community wants to use the land adjacent to the casino and resort to build tourism facilities.
“The area is a tourist hub. We have to maximise the tourism potential of this area so that there is more investment and job creation. We are hopeful that the government will keep their promise of helping us develop this land,” he said.