Thabi Shange, KwaZulu-Natal’s regional land claims commissioner, is building a reputation as a tough decision-maker who delivers land in big portions and attracts big investments. She is on contract to deliver on the Land Restitution Act and to do so as fast as possible.
Shange hails from the Kosi Bay area and has an MBA from Exeter University in the United Kingdom and degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Lesotho.
Amendments to the Land Restitution Act allow her to recommend to the minister of agriculture and land affairs for acquisition not only land that is for restitution, but adjoining land to be acquired on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis.
The fact that she has a full purse of money and offers the sellers fair value ensures there are settlements rather than acrimonious and drawn-out legal proceedings.
The new policy of settling claims with cash rather than giving back the land and, in the case of rural claims, looking for viable commercial investment options for claimants instead of simply restoring the land to them, is taken seriously by the business-minded Shange.
Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza wants rural land reform to produce commercially sustainable results and not recreate the poverty that characterises most of the land under the control of traditional leaders.
In KwaZulu-Natal this is critical for responsible land redistribution. Forty percent of the land in the province is in the hands of traditional leaders; 20% is urban, conservation and state-owned land; while only 40% is privately owned.
Around the Great St Lucia World Heritage Site Shange has settled claims for R50-million and most of the land will be used for sustainable, income-generating ecotourism projects.
She is making fast progress in the complicated issue of the Mangete claim where the descendants of the white Zulu chief John Dunn and his 49 Zulu wives have claims on their land.
At Gujini near Weenen she has settled claims on 11 000ha at a cost of R13-million, but the intention is to lease out most of the area for a hunting concession and the claimants will receive income through the rental.
Her colleague in the Eastern Cape has settled a claim by the Makhoba community near Matatiele by buying much larger areas of land around and including the “black spot” farms from which they were removed. Instead of going to court over the questionable use of the Restitution Act, the farmers settled out of court because they got a fair settlement of almost R14-million.
In other parts of the country Mondi and Sappi have negotiated settlements around forestry land, which see the claimants benefiting from an investment on their restored land instead of reoccupying the land. And the Makuleke claim on parts of the northern areas of the Kruger National Park has seen claimants receive benefits on what is an investment instead of returning to the land.
Shange now faces a series of claims in the Weenen, Colenso and Estcourt areas. If taken to the Land Claims Court she could have serious problems in proving that the Restitution Act applies.
Shange sees opportunities to synergise sustainable commercial enterprise with fast-tracking the settling of the land claims.
Much of the private farm land being claimed was severely degraded when the previous government abolished the labour-tenant system. For example, the Weenen Nature Reserve, which is owned by KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, consisted of overpopulated, severely eroded land, as did many private farms, which the new government acquired and mandated the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs to conserve. The labour tenants who were removed or left voluntarily were given alternative land.
Fortunately for Shange there is a well-advanced wildlife and lifestyle project, with broad government support and huge potential, in the planned Gongolo Wildlife Reserve, which could be a major commercial partner in the area.
In the former Tugela Biosphere Reserve that adjoins both the Weenen and Gongolo reserves, there are also some precariously legal land claims, but they could be leveraged to add critical mass in creating a sustainable and extremely viable ecotourism enterprise.
The challenge will not lie in dealing with the farm workers and farmers, most of whom will have to relocate. The farm workers already have been made very generous offers in terms of land, guaranteed employment and assistance with relocation. The challenge will be in evaluating the claimants and dealing with their expectations.
To put all this together Shange will have to call in the best advice from attorneys, accountants and bankers, so that she can do a proper evaluation of the sustainability and profitability of the projects.
She will be talking in terms of as much as 80 000ha and close to R100-million. These figures don’t faze her — in terms of the economic potential of the wildlife projects it is only the beginning of what could be a R1-billion development. At least five times as many permanent jobs as there currently are on the farms will be created.
By turning land claims into business investments and empowerment opportunities for the claimants, and assisting in establishing long-term sustainable development in an economically poor region of KwaZulu-Natal, future generations will be well-served by Shange with her shrewd sense of timing and opportunity.
The downside for Shange will be a determined court challenge. There could also be challenges to the prices paid and when one is using taxpayers’ money, that becomes a public issue.
The chief land claims commissioner has the mission statement of balancing the land rights of all South Africans, under the rule of law; the orderly way; the peaceful way; the patriotic way; the South African way. Maybe Shange will show us the way in KwaZulu-Natal.
Graham McIntosh MP (Democratic Alliance) has a land claim, to which he is objecting, on his farm in the Estcourt and Weenen districts