While many land claims in rural areas have been settled, land restored to communities has often failed to bring hoped-for jobs and income. But one Mpumalanga community has found a way to break the deadlock and use its land to start tourism ventures.
The beauty of eastern Mpumalanga and the evident prosperity of tourism ventures disguises the endemic poverty in the area. According to Statistics South Africa, 85% of Bushbuckridge households earn less than R19 200 a year and 86% of the population between the ages of 15 and 65 are either unemployed or economically inactive. The many land claims have paralysed investment as current owners are reluctant to make improvements to their land. And on those farms that have been restored to claimants, productivity has plunged as communities find they possess few of the requisite agricultural, business or managerial skills.
The Mapulana community — descendants of 210 households who lived on the land before the forced removals began in 1960 — are claiming 26 farms in the Hazyview area, between the Sabie River and Graskop. To date only one farm, Sandford, has been restored to them. The Mapulana community received the Sandford land four years ago, and Riebs Khoza, secretary of the Sandford Trust, is the first to admit that all did not go according to plan. The farm had been used for several income-generating activities and it quickly became apparent that the Mapulana weren’t able to manage the businesses. The community’s initial high expectations gave way to disillusionment.
The Sandford Lodge, for example, had offered chalet accommodation to guests. But the owners abandoned the land before it had been transferred to the community and in the intervening months, the buildings were stripped of all fittings and fixtures, down to the copper wire in the walls. Fires in three successive years destroyed what was left.
The farm also once boasted a top-class restaurant: “Tembi used to be the best restaurant in Hazyview. You wouldn’t get a table at Tembi for dinner, you had to book seven days in advance,” Khoza said. “But we didn’t know how to run it. Tembi started going down, [and] it deteriorated to zero.”
The community fared no better with the arable land returned to it. “The previous owners were growing cash crops, where you plant now and harvest in three months’ time. After they left, there was no continuity. This is a new concept in South Africa, giving the land back to the original people. We didn’t know what it was all about. The people who owned the land before thought, here is a Zimbabwe situation coming. They would run away and leave everything. There was a huge communication gap.”
The cash-strapped community found there was little it could do, with no phones or offices and a desperate shortage of skills. Henry Maboa, the chairperson of the trust, says administering the land has not been easy. “There was no money from government. We had to go deep into our pockets. [When land is transferred, the community] see money, they don’t see losses. They don’t want to hear about loss.”
“We didn’t have information and we didn’t have advisers,” Khoza adds. “We need people who know, who can advise on these things.”
Fifteen months ago, Khoza got what he wished for, when the Business Trust, an NGO funded by the private sector, made contact. The Business Trust launched the Maruleng and Bushbuckridge Economic Development Initiative (Mabedi) as a pilot project to alleviate rural poverty and spur growth. Mabedi employees acted as advisers to the Mapulana, conducting a feasibility study, outlining options and providing help with negotiations.
In the last few months the Mapulana community has announced several business deals. In May, the community signed a deal with the Hollow Group, which owns several restaurants and the Hippo Hollow guest lodge in Hazyview, to restore and relaunch Tembi as a hotel and conference centre with a hotel training school. Last month, international hotel group Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide said it plans to build a R1,2-billion golf resort — the Le Meridien Kruger Park Golf Resort and Spa — on Mapulana land. It is expected to create more than 2 000 jobs, directly and indirectly, in the area. Just last week, the Mapulana announced a partnership with Dreamworld to develop accommodation in traditional huts at the Shangana Cultural Village, which is also owned by the community.
“Land alone doesn’t put food on the table. It doesn’t develop you socially as a human being. With this interaction people get developed, people can earn money,” Khoza said.
Mabedi advises communities engaging in joint ventures to retain a 49% ownership in the project. “Our partners are not coming in as 100% shareholders. It’s 49/51. We are also carrying risk. We have potential sources of funds from the Land Claims Commission in the form of grants. But at the same time, we are very conservative. We don’t risk with our land, only what is on the land,” said Khoza.