Reluctant to release any of its vast tracts of land, the Defence Force is being threatened with land invasions by displaced communities, writes Eddie Koch
THE South African National Defence Force has come under fire for scuttling land reform in parts of the country where the army controls large tracts of unused territory — much of it taken forcibly from black communities during the apartheid era.
Land organisations this week fired a broadside at Minister of Defence Joe Modise over his handling of land claims by three black communities — the Khosis, Maremane and Gathlose — who were forcibly removed in 1977 so that the South African Defence Force could build the world’s second biggest battle school at Lohatla in the Northern Cape.
The displaced groups have claimed back parts of the battle school, which covers 135 000 hectares of arid land near Posmasburg, and have started negotiations with the defence and land ministries to resolve the
But the National Land Committee (NLC), which represents the removed communities, says a massive invasion by the Maremane community is looming — possibly as early as this weekend — because Modise and also the Ministry of Land Affairs have been slow in dealing with the demands for land restoration at Lohatla.
The Ministry of Defence denies it is blocking land reform. “The SANDF is not unsympathetic to claims upon land that has been allocated to it for use,” said Modise’s spokesman. “However it should be borne in mind that (it) has a responsibility to train its army as well as … to ensure a professional and proficient defence force as called for in the Constitution.”
The Lohatla dispute is the latest in a series of complaints that the SANDF, the single largest owner of state land outside of national game parks, is refusing to play its part in a government land reform programme that aims to redistribute 30 percent of all arable land to landless communities within five years.
An official statement from the SANDF says the military has the use of 600 000 hectares in various parts of the country. “Of this, 500 000 hectares are undeveloped and are used for training areas, bombing ranges and buffer zones around airstrips and ammunition depots.”
Lohatla is the second biggest battle school in the world. The largest is owned by the United States Army in Nevada. The NLC and officials in the Department of Land Affairs believe that this land could be used to meet the government’s land redistribution targets.
There are also new disputes looming in the Northern Transvaal where the SANDF controls large tracts of land along the Limpopo River which are being claimed by the original Venda inhabitants and also in the Maputaland area of KwaZulu/Natal where the army is holding onto land that is no longer required for security purposes.
“Modise and the military have not been playing their role in promoting the land reform programmes,” says NLC director Brendan Pearce. “We’ve been saying to the communities that they should wait and go through the formal land claims process. But their patience is running out because the government departments are dragging their feet on the issue.”
A “joint working group” made up of officials from the defence and land ministries has been set up to settle the land claim. It also has representatives from the displaced groups at Lohatla to settle the land claim at Lohatla by negotiation rather than in the newly established Land Claims Court. The latest in a series of complaints is that delegations from both government departments failed to attend a meeting of this group that was held in Kimberley this week.
Modise’s spokesman told the Mail & Guardian this interdepartmental group was “working full time” to resolve the Lohatla issue and that the military had not ruled out giving back parts of the battle school. He stressed, however, this would take time as “alternative land has to be identified, purchased and an infrastructure be established”.
But Pearce says popular anger around Lohatla increased after the military last month allowed 15 white farmers to graze cattle inside the battle school grounds while access to the area by community members is heavily restricted.
“In terms of the Restitution Act it is illegal to lease or allocate land that has a claim pending. And while white farmers are allowed to use the land, community members are not even allowed in to clean their ancestors’ graves — a highly emotional issue that causes lots of conflict.”
Although the NLC blames inertia from both the military and the Ministry of Land Affairs for the escalating conflict at Lohatla, government sources say the burgeoning controversy over the battle school is opening cracks in relations between the defence and land ministries.
The two ministers have had a series of face-to-face meetings relating to land controlled by the military. The sources say Minister of Land Affairs Derek Hanekom complained that the military’s decision to lease Lohatla land to white farmers was undermining his ministry’s land reform programme and commitment to resolve claims through “transparent negotiations”.
“Modise appears to have the attitude of an apparatchik from the apartheid era on the Lohatla issue,” said one non-governmental organisation source. “He is using old- style government arguments that the people from Lohatla received compensation and that alternative land should be found for them instead of breaking up the battle
Jabu Dada, the NLC’s official in charge of land redistribution, says the three communities from Lohatla are incensed because they have just heard the SANDF will be staging massive war games at Lohatla later in the year.
“It appears that while the defence ministry has been in negotiation with us, behind our backs they have been planning to use the battle school for an operation that precludes its being given back to the people. The irony is that while war games are going on, there are likely to be real invasions of the land.”
The SANDF has confirmed that it will stage a training exercise called Operation Southern Cross at Lohatla in October and November but denies media reports that foreign military personnel will take part in the games.
Hanekom is also said to be disgruntled because the military has been slow to release land at Schmidtsdrift, another large battle training ground in the Northern Cape, despite an official agreement that this area will be given back to a group of BaTswana who were removed by the army in 1968.
In February this year, Hanekom promised the people from Schmidtsdrift that they would be back on their land “within months”. Although his ministry has obtained formal agreement from the military for title to be restored to the BaTswana, progress has been complicated by the fact that some 4 500 Khwe and !Xu people are still living at the army base.
The “bushman” community is made up of families of Khwe and !Xu soldiers who joined the then SADF during South Africa’s bush war in Namibia and fled south with the army fearing persecution after that country became independent in 1990.
Hanekom obtained permission at a Cabinet meeting two weeks ago to take over responsibility from Modise for resettling the Khwe and !Xu, who form the biggest surviving “bushman” community in Africa, so that the land claim at Schmidtsdrift can be settled.
Modise’s spokesman said a committee to devise ways of relocating the Khwe and !Xu would take place at the end of the month and that a solution could be in place by July this year.
“The minister has instructed the Defence Force that there must be no discrimination with regards to making available emergency grazing. It should be available to organised agriculture and individuals in a declared drought stricken area who may request it.”
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