Niki Moore
The controversial handover of land to the Mbangweni community at the Ndumo Game Reserve on the Mozambique border in Maputaland has been put on hold indefinitely, according to a statement issued by the Land Claims Commission.
But according to a source inside regional land claim commissioner Thabi Shange’s department, the signing over of the 200ha will go ahead on November 18.
Nature Conservation officials in the Ndumo game reserve are giving the 200-strong community a hippo every month for meat till their land claim is settled – a process that could take several years. According to a resident of the area, the hippo-a-month deal is to prevent the Mbangweni community from losing patience with the slow pace of land reform and taking matters into their own hands.
Nature Conservation officials cull an animal every few weeks and deliver it to the community for the meat and hide.
This follows a plan to excise 200ha from the game reserve to give to the community to plant crops, which was abandoned after heated public protest – and because the land in question is part of a floodplain that is currently under water.
The Mbangweni community has refused offers of payment or alternative land and insist on claiming their territory. This interim short-term land deal will now go ahead.
Shange’s department claims that the title deeds will not be handed over, merely permission given to cultivate the land.
The crops will not be secure, however, as the area which has been earmarked for cultivation is, according to a community representatvie, not suitable. And in the meantime the group is collecting its ration of hippo meat. Conservation spokesman Jeff Gaisford said that the cropping of hippo was part of the yearly culling of problem animals. “One of the key issues here is food security. This was the main reasoning behind the arrangement to allow the community to cultivate in the 200ha area. In order to enhance the food security issue the Chief Conservator for that region agreed to allocate one hippo a month to the community.”
Gaisford did not say how long the hippo deliveries would continue.
Shange has announced an intention to excise a total of almost 2 000ha from the internationally recognised game reserve to settle the Mbangweni land claim.
According to environmental lawyer Peter Rutsch, she had no authority to do so: “The regional land claim commissioner is only empowered to negotiate with claimants to reach a settlement, and then make recommendations to Cabinet.” The Mbangweni corridor has long been identified as a smuggling route between South Africa and Mozambique. According to a local resident who did not want to be named: “A car stolen in Gauteng can be across the border in seven hours. Even though there are roadblocks, all they check is your driver’s licence. The traffic is brisk.”
The traffic is two-way: stolen vehicles go into Mozambique – drugs, animal products and guns travel to South Africa.
The same resident said: “For years the Mbangweni community have been making a lot of money from smuggling. Now the government comes along and says: ‘Give us your land for a game reserve and you will make a little money from tourism. Maybe. In a few years.’ No wonder they would rather hang on to their smuggling routes.”