3 blocks to Winnie claim

NELSON Mandela’s Qunu farm is about to return to court as the subject of Winnie MadikizelaMandela’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal in her claim to the property.

The farm, of course, is the site of Madiba’s grave, which at some stage will be open to the public and become a major tourist drawcard.

In 2014, when this first came to court, I suggested in a letter to the Dispatch that the case might provide clarity on the customary versus statutory land law.

In fact, the case was argued more in the context of marriage and succession.

However, it still hinges on her claim to a land allocation made by the traditional authority to her as a divorcee in 1989.

That she was allocated a site does not appear to be in doubt, and was confirmed by Nkosikazi Balizulu of Qunu in an interview reported yesterday in the City Press.

But there are three reasons why that does not mean she can claim the 96.89 hectares of KwaMadiba farm on which the grave lies.

Firstly, a customary land allocation to a divorcee is not unusual, but no customary site to anyone exceeds a hectare or two, sufficient for a homestead and an arable field; nowhere near 98 hectares.

Secondly, a customary allocation is a right of occupation, not ownership, so her claim the site “belongs to her” cannot be correct.

Thirdly there is some argument over whether the house is on the site allocated to her.

Kwa-Madiba Farm 54 Mthatha, 96.89 ha, is owned by title deed number G7307/1999.

It was granted to Nelson Mandela under the State Land Disposal Act with the agreement of the Qunu community and the traditional leadership in 1996 in acknowledgement of his extraordinary achievements.

In the north-west corner is the house Madiba had built to the layout of his former prison.

His grave lies 800 metres from the house close to the eastern boundary.

It is extremely unlikely that the community or the then tribal authority would have agreed to the farm overlying a recent customary site allocated to someone as well-known as Winnie MadikizelaMandela.

It is one of the problems of reconciling customary and statutory law, that there are no recorded boundaries to customary sites.

Hopefully, this SCA appeal will provide some clarity. — Mike Coleman, Nahoon