‘We wanted to reclaim our dignity’
“My son, until you came here to our village, the Masingatha community did not know that the Eastern Cape government wanted to steal our ancestral land from us.”
This was the assertion made by 64-year-old Nokuzola Siwaphi, a leader of the Eastern Cape’s Masingatha village, whose ancestral land was sold to private developers by the provincial government for almost R23-million in January 2013 while the community had already lodged a land claim for it in 1995.
The claim followed forced removals of families from their land that was begun in the early 1960s by the repressive apartheid regime.
Siwaphi, dressed in the colourful attire that is synonymous with elderly rural women, revelled in regaling the Mail & Guardian with stories of how she worked alongside the late Reverend Benson Sokopo when the community launched its bid to reclaim what the leader said was its dignity. Sokopo died in March last year.
“I was Mr Sokopo’s secretary. When he lodged the original claim in 1995, he did so with us as members of the elected committee to fight for the community. We
wanted to reclaim our dignity and the Masingatha land, which was stolen from us during the days of oppression.
“During the application process, monetary restitution was suggested instead of us receiving our land back,” Siwaphi said.
She added that the community collectively decided to accept monetary compensation for their stolen property because it would have been arduous, Siwaphi contended, to fight for land that had so much development on it.
An internal Eastern Cape restitution report, which the M&G has seen, showed that the Masingatha community received more than
R20.5-million in compensation. Siwaphi said the money was shared among nearly 70 families.
“The money helped us a lot. People were able to build or renovate their houses on their properties with that money.
“The money also helped me to achieve and build things for my family that I did not think I would ever achieve,” she said.
In an August 2017 written response to the Eastern Cape legislature, former human settlements MEC Helen Sauls-august said the Masingatha land was zoned for agricultural purposes, but that no farming was taking place on it.