Chiefs: ‘Probe land claims’
Dispossessed people still living in squalor, say traditional leaders
EASTERN Cape traditional leaders have called on the provincial government to invest money and other resources into a forensic investigation of land ownership across the province.
The traditional leaders yesterday said hundreds of thousands of indigenous communities were still living in squalor after they were dispossessed of their land centuries ago.
Speaking at the annual opening of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders (ECHOTL) in Bhisho yesterday, ECHOTL’s provincial chair Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima urged government to speed up the process of identifying communities stripped of their land during the many wars of dispossession which started more than two centuries ago.
Matanzima said traditional leaders had already started the process to investigate who owned various land parcels across all provincial districts, with the aim of identifying which communities had valid claims.
He said the house had solicited private funding from businesspeople to conduct this investigation.
“We have already done our own investigation assisted by a certain local professor, and we have since received a preliminary report on the matter.
“However, we need to broaden that investigation to all corners of the province, and we will need government to invest money and other resources in order to make possible the probe into exactly who owns which land,” said Matanzima.
The outgoing chair, who presided over yesterday’s sitting for the last time as his term of office lapses in a few weeks, said they wanted to leave “a lasting legacy” by identifying who owned the land. “We all know this province is rich in heritage and that there are many historic sites as a result of various wars that were fought on these shores.
“In the wake of those wars, many people were stripped of what is rightfully theirs. Hence we want to assist those communities and government by identifying who has valid claims for such land.
“As you all know, President Jacob Zuma has been going around saying there should be a clear policy on how government can improve its efforts to return land to the people.
“We want to make that easy for them through this investigation,” Matanzima said.
Yesterday’s sitting was attended by royals from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Free State and Northern Cape. Members of the provincial legislature, led by speaker Noxolo Kiviet, MECs and Khoi traditional leaders, were also in attendance.
Delivering the keynote address, premier Phumulo Masualle said it was unacceptable that the province had “large tracts of land” which were not utilised for agriculture.
“We want to make our province the food basket of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and this will only be possible if we fully exploit the agricultural capacity of our province. Our people want to buy even the most basic foodstuffs that they can easily produce if they use the land at their disposal.
“We are appealing to our traditional leaders to join us in this critical campaign which has the potential to yield enormous economic benefits for our province.
“Importantly, this has the potential to reduce the poverty levels in our province whilst improving the health of our citizens as well,” said Masualle. “There is a lot to be gained from tilling and ploughing the land that we have at our disposal.”
Masualle also told the sitting that the provincial government was “disturbed” by the growing number of traditional claims and disputes.
“These claims and disputes distract us from that which we are supposed to do as leaders,” he said. — asandan@