Estelle Randall
EIGHTY-FOUR-year-old Andries Radebe is one of almost 3 000 people who were removed from Crimen in the 1970s and resettled in Ezakheni, near Ladysmith. Radebe and 98 other landowners had the added pain of seeing their land lie unused for 11 years, before being sold to a private owner.
After efforts to get back their land, including an attempted reoccupation, they sought redress in the supreme court. When their case was dismissed in February, it seemed the only route left was the Appellate Division — and a wait of two years for the appeal to be heard. Not an attractive option for an 84-year-old.
But Radebe may not have to wait that long. The Restitution of Land Rights Bill, to be tabled in parliament in the next two weeks, will entitle about 1,4-million of the estimated 3,5-million people who were forcibly removed to make claims for restitution.
Underpinning the draft legislation is the need to make restitution quick, effective and accessible and to encourage local settlement of disputes. Two mechanisms will ensure this: the Land Claims Commission, with offices in every province, and the Land Claims Court, which will operate as a circuit court.
All claims for restitution must be lodged within three years of the start of the restitution process. They must first go to the Land Claims Commission, which will investigate claims, propose solutions and try to negotiate and mediate settlements.
Claims the commission cannot resolve will go to the court, which will also ratify agreements reached by the commission.
The court will be able to order the transfer of state land and the expropriation or purchase of land privately owned. If privately- owned land is expropriated, the state will have to compensate current owners, taking into account the history of the property’s acquisition, its market value and the interests of the parties involved.
The court could award claimants alternative land, just compensation or alternative remedies, if it does not restore land to claimants.
Awards will take into account compensation claimants received at the time of their dispossession and this will be deducted from the award. Awards will also take into account whether parties refused to negotiate.
The court will be a specialised court of law, which will be able to receive any evidence which it considers relevant. Appeals against Land Claims Court decisions will go to the Constitutional Court.
Where rural communities do get back their land, the government will help them re- settle. The Department of Land Affairs says that for each of the 100 rural communities it has identified as potential beneficiaries of restitution, restitution would cost between R1-million and R2-million.
Minister of Land Affairs Derek Hanekom says his department has asked for 20 percent of reconstruction and development programme funds to meet the cost of redistribution and restitution projects, including five pilot projects for each province.
But while the Bill will do much to redress forced removals, it will not deal with problems generated by land hunger.
The Department of Land Affairs estimates that about 700 000 urban people and about 100 rural claims, involving about 700 000 people, could be eligible for restitution. Rural claims “may include some categories of labour tenants who were removed in the 1970s”, Hanekom said, “but not people who were affected by mechanisation in agriculture or the ending of contractual relationships.
“My department will facilitate discussion between landowners and tenants and try to reach some sort of arrangement to benefit people who occupied land for some time.”
He is mindful of the limitations of the draft restitution law. To address the much more complex issue of general land hunger, his ministry is preparing a White Paper on land reform, which will go beyond restitution and should be ready by the end of 1994.