Opinions vary on land

NORTH WEST: TAKING TRADITIONAL LAND WITHOUT COMPENSATION WRONG

Tribal authority says leave the 13% that is in the hands of traditional leaders alone.

Land under the control of traditional leaders should not be taken away, a parliamentary committee on the review of section 25 of the Constitution heard yesterday.

“The 13% in the hands of traditional leaders should not be touched. We want the 87% of land to be expropriation without compensation,” Segale Pilane from Bakgatla Ba Kgafela tribal authority told a joint constitutional review committee in Rustenburg.

Pilane said traditional land was previously taken without compensation and traditional leaders and their subjects bought the land back. Taking traditional land without compensation was the same as taking the land again from traditional communities.

However, a member of the public, Kgomotso Khunou, said no chief should own the land. “Our great-great forefathers own the land, not the chiefs,” he said.

A land activist, who identified herself as Modiegi Azania, said land under the control of traditional leaders had already been taken, as such there was no land left for grazing.

The committee is concluding public hearings for North West in Rustenburg.

The committee was instructed by the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces to ascertain whether a review of section 25 of the Constitution and other clauses were necessary, to make it possible for the state to expropriate land in the public interest without compensation, and propose the necessary constitutional amendments where necessary. – ANA

No chief should own land. Our greatgreat forefathers own the land, not the chiefs.

Kgomotso Khunou