6 000 march to reclaim land
2005-09-27 22:43
Johannesburg - About 6 000 people from villages around King William's Town have marched through the town, demanding the right to lodge special land-restitution claims in the area.
The group claimed Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza had agreed that claimants in area should "be permitted to lodge special restitution claims over a six-month period" starting from 2004.
The minister "despite approving this recommendation" did not open this window period during 2004, the group said.
"There are indications that the government is no longer negotiating in good faith about how to open the promised six-month window for them to lodge their restitution claims," said the group.
The King William's Town communities were supported by the community from the adjacent Middledrift area.
The Vulamasango Singene campaign aims to have the lodgement phase of the restitution process, which expired in December 1998, re-opened.
Until 2000, the government's policy position was that betterment dispossession did not fulfil the criteria of the Restitution of Land Rights Act.
The policy error was rectified, but only in 2000, two years after the lodgement period ended.
The department of land affairs could not be reached for comment.
- SAPA