Compensation for victims of Homelands policy

File photo: Denis Farrell

File photo: Denis Farrell

Published Feb 8, 2016

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Polokwane – When Sarah Madzhaka was forcible removed from the then Republic of Venda to Gazankulu as part of Native Land Act, she could boast of owning livestock, clay pots and wooden plates.

However, on that night in 1972, she lost almost all her valuables, most damaged and lost when they were thrown into a truck to an unknown destination.

She was told to pack and move to Nthlaveni, some seventy kilometres away from her ancestral land, to a bush area near the Kruger National Park.

The apartheid system disapproved of integrated settlements, instead advocating for settlement according to language under the despised Homelands system.

On Monday, Madzhaka and ninety two others victims of displacement, were given financial compensation for damages they had suffered during the Native Land Act displacement.

Provincial Rural Development and Land Reform spokesman Avhashoni Magada said: “The pay-out of R12 million is to individual claimants who were displaced through racial land dispossession perpetuated by the 1913 Native Land Act.

“Each individual claimant received R129 839.77 as compensation for loss of right to land.”

The seventy-four-year-old Madzhaka recalled how traumatic it was and how she was forced to restart her life poor, and forced to make new friends.

Her children were forced to leave their school as the government of the day wanted Tsongas and VhaVendas to reside separately.

Receiving financial compensation was a bittersweet reminder for Madzhaka and her family of how they were forced to leave their homes and could only watch as their clay and earthen wares were smashed to pieces during the truck journey.

“We were dumped in the truck, our properties, pots, plates and wardrobe were broken, so when they compensate us, we are happy,” said Mazhaka

She added that the relocation had left families and communities scattered far from each other.

She said there was no way they could resist the displacement because it was a government order.

“We never wanted to be separated from VhaVenda, we were living together happy,” said Mazhaka, who said many people were forced to leave their livestock behind.

Samuel Masia, whose parents have died, was one of those compensated for the family claim.

“We lost a lot of properties, we did not have water containers because we were using clay water containers,” said Masia, who is unemployed.

“We were taken in the evening and dumped, we did not know where we were as it was dark.”

He said the compensation award would help them build something that would stand as a monument to the remembrance of their forced exodus.

African News Agency

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