Parliament, Sunday, 19 June 2022 – A delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour visited the Mahlaela and Ledwaba families who lodged a claim for a part of Rieffontein Farm on which they lived for decades.
The delegation heard from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development that R2.4 million has been approved for the purchase of 266 hectares of the farm and the claim is in its final stages. The conveyancing attorney is in the process of registering Trust of Mahlaela and Ledwaba families which must exist before the land can be transferred to the families. According to the department, it is hoped that the land claim application will be finalised by August this year.
The delegation heard from the claimants that they live under extremely appalling and unbearable conditions, they live in rainy mud houses, there is no water and sanitation and no electricity. Asked by the leader of the delegation, Inkosi Zweivelile Mandela, about its plans of alleviation of farm dwellers from this situation, the department said that the implementation of its plans depend on the transference of the land to the Trust.
Many farm dwellers complained in a public meeting which the delegation convened as part of its oversight programme yesterday in Groblersdal, about forceful and unfair evictions. Inkosi Mandela told farm dwellers that there is a court ruling on land restitution claims. He informed the claimants that there is a backlog of 6000 land restitution claims still waiting to be processed. He said only claims that were lodged before 1998 are being processed by the Land Claims Commission.
The delegation heard from Mr Bekwa Bafedi that his farm, Weltevrede - JS 165 was forcibly taken from him and the farmer stole his cattle and built a fence around the farm preventing him from visiting the graves of his family. He provided the delegation with evidence of his claim and appealed for assistance to regain his farm.
The labour tenants told the delegation that they have lived for years on farms with no title deeds. Inkosi Mandela told the meeting that the closing date for labour tenant claims was 31 March 2001.
Farm dwellers highlighted a whole range of problems they experience on the farms. The problems included being ill by being infected with toxic chemicals that are used by farmers in making their farms productive, dismissals before their employment contracts expire; and there is nothing they get in the form of pension after working for long years on the farms. They said they reported that to the Department of Employment and Labour, but the department does not act on those reported complaints.
The delegation directed the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Department of Employment and Labour to make a report on the complaints to the committees of agriculture and labour in a month’s time.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM, INKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA.
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Name: Sureshinee Govender
Parliamentary Communication Services
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E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za
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