Hundreds of families forcibly removed from their land in the Karoo by the apartheid government in the 1960s will be compensated, the department of rural development and land reform said on Monday.
The families included those removed from Waterford and Jansenville, Minister Gugile Nkwinti’s spokesperson, Mtobeli Mxotwa, said in a statement.
He said Nkwinti made the announcement in Waterford during a handover of the Wayside farm to victims of the removals.
Nkwinti told the community his department had a new recapitalisation and development programme and that its R900-million budget was meant to help emerging farmers become commercial farmers.
Technical and material support
Mxotwa said land would be provided to those displaced people who still wanted to farm, and financial compensation would be paid to those who had since settled in urban areas and did not want to farm.
However, he warned that those opting for financial compensation would not be able to make further claims on the government.
Those who received land would also receive post-settlement technical and material support, Nkwinti said.
He said his department aimed to create farmers who would ensure production discipline, which would in turn create food security for the country.
The government would also provide the resettled community with basic human needs, including schools, water, health clinics, roads and electricity.
Nkwinti recently launched the Ikwezi municipal rural development pilot programme aimed at improving the socio-economic conditions of people in rural areas where poverty and unemployment are rife. — Sapa