Warrior clan gets land back
2003-12-10 08:41
Nelspruit - An impoverished Mpumalanga clan has regained ownership of its 6 000ha home in a R71.6m deal hailed as the province's single largest land reform victory yet.
The Mdluli, once a rebellious warrior outpost of the Swazi empire, will officially take ownership of five lucrative sub-tropical fruit farms on the outskirts of Nelspruit on Saturday.
The clan of 1 200 families ironically originally lost their birthright through an act of kindness - by allowing a colonial era explorer, HL Hall, to set up camp on the land in the 1880s.
By 1921 the once proud tribe had been reduced to simple labourers on the sprawling estate, which colonial authorities legally transferred to the Hall family.
When growing numbers of the Mdlulis refused to work in return for residency certificates, the family's new HL Hall and Sons company labelled them squatters and began evicting entire villages in the 1950s.
This week the exiles will return to their ancestral homes as the new owners of productive orange, avocado, litchi and pecan nuts orchards, as well as extensive sugar-cane plantations.
The thriving agri-business will be co-managed with their former oppressors, HL Hall and Sons, who are today one of the country's largest fruit processing companies.
"To ensure future prosperity for the Mdlulis and the sustainability of the farm itself, HL Hall and Sons has signed a R100 000 a year contract which will see the claimants acquiring modern farming skills," explains Mpumalanga land claims commissioner Nceba Nqana.
The five lush neighbouring farms are worth R63m. The Mdlulis will also benefit from an additional R11m support grant for extension and administrative support services.
"This claim is the biggest the commission had settled so far in Mpumalanga. It will benefit over 6 000 people, giving them real livelihoods and security of tenure," said Nqana.
The area, known as Mattafin, is named after the Mdluli chief Matsafeni who originally settled in the area in the 1840s after rebelling against the Swazi monarch and then fighting off expansionist Sotho colonists from the Blyde River Canyon.