Stefaans Brummer
DEPUTY defence minister Ronnie Kasrils this week found himself caught in the middle of tensions between the Northern Cape ANC and the army. ANC VIPs were barred from entering the army’s Lohatla battle-training school, at the centre of a land dispute, when Kasrils and Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom went on a fact-finding mission last Thursday.
Hanekom and Kasrils visited the giant army base north- west of Kimberley to investigate a dispute between the Khosis Griqua community, who claim title to part of Lohatla, and the army, which wants 30 to 40 remaining Khosis families to vacate the base. The ANC and Hanekom have opposed the removals.
While a party including Hanekom and Kasrils were flown into the base for an army presentation and to talk to the Khosis, troops refused road entry to legislator Abdul Panker, ANC provincial secretary general William Steenkamp and other ANC representatives, the Khosis’ lawyer, media and a representative from the National Land Committee. Heated arguments followed.
Also barred was a delegation from a Tswana community allegedly forcibly removed in 1977 from the area and shunted to former Bophuthatswana, who now demand to be allowed to return to their land. The Tswana delegation staged a placard demonstration at an entry gate.
No one was willing this week to own up to issuing the no- entry orders. Steenkamp said a lieutenant colonel at the gate had told him the orders had come from National Defence Force chief General Georg Meiring and the commander of Lohatla.
Steenkamp charged it was a clear example of “absolute non-recognition of the new government” by the military. Steenkamp said he was under the impression Kasrils had been expecting to meet him in Lohatla. National Defence Force communication chief Major General Gert Opperman said the ministerial visit had been a “private fact- finding mission”.
While Opperman would not say who had issued the orders, military sources pointed fingers at the Ministry of Defence, both for creating the perception among Steenkamp and others that they were welcome, and for ordering that they not be allowed in.
A ministry spokesman dismissed the charges as “disinformation”, and Northern Cape premier Manne Dipico, who accompanied Kasrils and Hanekom, said it was “nonsense” that the Defence Ministry had given the orders. He said he had informed Kasrils before the visit that Steenkamp would be there.
Meanwhile, high-level meetings have been scheduled in a bid to solve the land dispute. A Kimberley Supreme Court application has been postponed to early December to allow the parties time to settle.
The Defence Ministry, in an application launched under the De Klerk government, wants to eject the Khosis from Lohatla. The Khosis are challenging the army’s right to 72 000ha of the total 135 000ha comprising the battle school.