Pretoria’s inner city is to get a R18-billion makeover in the next 15 years. It will include a Freedom Park and a cross-town ”heritage trail” from the park, through Church Square, to the Union Buildings. The idea, planners say, is to transform the city into a world-class capital with South African architecture and an African feel.

Mining companies are homing in on diamond-rich land under restitution claims in the Northern Cape, fragmenting the recipient communities into warring factions.
Sugar Ramakarane, regional land claims commissioner in the Northern Cape and Free State, said the community of Schmidtsdrift, near Kimberley, had broken into seven factions over which company should partner them in mining the diamonds.

Asbestos and asbestos products are to be wiped from the face of South Africa. In terms of draft legislation approved by the Cabinet recently, no one will be allowed to mine, process, import, export, sell or even transport the dangerous mineral. Companies still using asbestos products will have 120 days after the regulations are promulgated to phase out the mineral.

In the week of AgriSA’s annual conference, the Mail & Guardian speaks to chairperson Lourie Bosman about the recent land summit and whether farmers are doing enough to facilitate land reform in South Africa.

”Police had warned us not to go into Botleng and about 200m away we could see fires smouldering in the rock-strewn main road. In what we thought was a safe spot, we stopped opposite the school to check with a contact for directions. The next moment, three youths were at the sidewindow demanding to know what we wanted,” writes Yolandi Groenewald and Monako Dibetle.

South Africa’s first expropriation of land for restitution was announced recently. The Land Claims Commission announced on Thursday that it would be serving an expropriation notice on the owner of the Leeuwspruit farm, near Lichtenberg in North West.

High-ranking Free State African National Congress politicians, including Premier Beatrice Marshoff, recently told embattled officials of the Matjhabeng municipality in the northern Free State to ”pull up their socks”. The municipality, has been plagued by financial mismanagement and corruption since it was established three years ago.

Research has shown that only 1% of almost one million evictions from farms in the past 10 years have involved a legal process. The research also indicates that evictions peaked after the 1997 introduction of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (Esta), designed to secure the tenure rights of farm dwellers.