Pretoria - About 27 696 land claims have been lodged through the mobile lodgement offices alone since their introduction last year.
Government, through the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, introduced the mobile offices to reach remote rural communities during the land claims process. The claims process allows people who were removed from their land under apartheid rule, but who missed an earlier deadline for lodging claims for compensation, to do so until 30 June 2019.
It is estimated that at least 3.5 million South Africans were forcibly removed from their land as a result of the Native Land Act of 1913, which effectively reserved 87 percent of land in the country for the white minority.
By visiting these remote rural areas, the six mobile offices in Sol Plaatje, Gemsbok, Mabulandila-Vulindlela, Inkanyezi, Maropeng and Thembekile, the commission has provided relief for families who otherwise would not have had the resources to travel to the 14 lodgement offices in the country’s nine provinces.
Alfred Msibi (97) and Maria Sibisi (79) from Mpumalanga are among many of the elderly people across the country, who have been assisted to lodge their land claims in their village through these mobile offices. They have expressed their appreciation for these offices, which have made it easy for them to lodge their claims this time around.
A total of four buses and two all-terrain 4 x 4 trucks specially equipped with technology to receive applications on site will continue to travel across the country to receive claims until 30 June 2019. These mobile lodgement offices have the capability to reach communities irrespective of the geo-spatial challenges.
Chief Land Claims Commissioner Nomfundo Ntloko-Gobodo said they are bringing hope to many victims of land dispossession across the country.
“The decision to reopen the lodgement of land claims was informed by the fact that many individuals and communities, who qualified to lodge land claims, did not lodge due to lack of awareness of the programme.
“We are quite pleased with the progress made so far in reaching people in far flung rural areas through these mobile lodgement offices,” Ntloko-Gobodo said.
As a result of the intervention of the mobile lodgement offices visiting communities to assist them to lodge claims, Ntloko-Gobodo said she was confident that they will reach a significant number of prospective claimants by June 2019.
“The large number of claimants reached so far is evidence that we are making good progress with the mobile lodgement offices campaign,” said the commissioner.
Ntloko-Gobodo said since the introduction of the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act in July 2014, 143 720 new claims have been lodged with the commission across the country as at 31 March 2016.
Information regarding the dates on which the mobile lodgement offices will be visiting the different areas across the country is announced through local communication channels in each area.
Information on what is required to lodge a claim is available on the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s website: www.drdlr.gov.za. – SAnews.gov.za
