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Prof to help in land-claim row
01/09/2005 18:57 - (SA)
Sizwe samaYende
Polokwane - Retired history and ethnology professor Victor Ralushai has been asked to help unlock an impasse over who's entitled to own one of Limpopo's richest agricultural estates.
Limpopo land claims commissioner Mashile Mokono said Profesor Ralushai had been hired to research the history of more than five clans, who have lodged claims on 225 farms that include southern Africa`s biggest tomato producer, ZZ2.
The area under claim covers 31 000ha of land in Letaba near Modjadjiskloof and includes fruit estates.
The commission has been grappling with counterclaims on the land for the past three years.
Late Rain Queen Modjadji's Bolobedu ba Modjadji clan is competing with Bakgaga ba Maupa and other smaller clans.
Mokono said: "We've been grappling with the claims for years."
"We hope Professor Ralushai's expertise will help us identify the valid claimants."
Mokono said Ralushai's research would be submitted to the land claims court to help it determine the valid claimants.
Ralushai was appointed during former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi's tenure to research chieftaincies and kingships in the province.
His report was never made public, however.
Ramatlhodi declined to give reasons at the time, but speculation was that the report would cause a lot of controversy as some traditional leaders were found not to be legitimate.
- African Eye
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