Deadline for land claim that could cause chaos

File picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/Independent Media

File picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/Independent Media

Published Feb 2, 2017

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Johannesburg – Property owners in the south of Joburg have until the end of Wednesday to make submissions to the Land Claims Commission following a claim of 1 377 properties.

Some of the main affected areas are around Brackendowns, Kromvlei, Aspen Hills, Bassonia Rock, Alberton and Liefde en Vrede.

Attorneys Bulelwa Mabasa and Anele Khumalo of Werksmans Attorneys said many property owners would be affected by the publication of “arguably the largest urban land claim in Gauteng".

The land claim was published in the Government Gazette on November 4, last year.

It was lodged by the Bakwena Ba Mare a Phogole community.

“The land claim covers vast tracts of residential, state-owned, private and commercial land in the Joburg and Ekurhuleni municipalities and includes land that comprises municipal land, residential housing, water pumping stations, reservoirs, schools, hospitals and hotels, as well as public roads and infrastructure,” the attorneys said.

Members of the Bakwena community allege that they were relocated to Soweto and surrounding areas by colonial and apartheid authorities and lodged their land claim in May 1995, following the passing of the Restitution of Land Rights Act No 22 of 1994 (the act).

“The Bakwena claim was published pursuant to a judgment of the Land Claims Court delivered by Acting Judge Nasreen Rajab-Budlender on October 19 last year which highlighted the commission’s shortcomings in publishing a claim that the commission had conceded was prima facie valid on the basis that publishing the claim would 'create chaos',” they said.

While the commission maintains that it is business as usual for those affected by the land claim, the act does, however, require landowners to give a month’s written notice to the commission if the owner intends to sell, exchange, donate, lease, subdivide, rezone or develop land published in the Gazette.

This does not, however, apply to plans already approved before the publication of the Gazette on November 4.

"Landowners whose properties form part of the published Gazette have until tomorrow (today) to make representations to the commission,” said Mabasa and Khumalo.

Landowners are entitled to participate in the comment process currently under way and to make submissions as to why their particular property may not be restorable.

In addition, they are able to approach the Land Claims Court for relief.

Property owners can also participate in the various stages of the investigations to be conducted by the commission, which include inspections of the land claimed, settlement negotiations, mediation, including but not limited to the preparation of expert historical reports that are aimed at agreeing to and/or disputing the validity and veracity of any land claim, and any referrals to the Land Claims Court for adjudication.

“State entities, on the other hand, are better protected in terms of the act as there's a mechanism in the act in which they may apply to the court to exclude their properties from restoration,” they said.

The process of restitution has various ultimate outcomes, which include claimants being awarded the land claimed and a landowner compensated by the state, or alternative land; and/or just and equitable compensation or a combination.

“It must be borne in mind that the act envisages that not all land claimed is capable of being restored. With this in mind, restitution and restoration as a concept must make economic sense, and issues of sustainable development must be considered in determining whether particular land is appropriate for purposes of restitution,” said the lawyers.

Landowners whose properties have been claimed are encouraged to participate in these early stages, and to engage with the commission to ensure they are well versed with the applicable legal processes.

Restitution occurs within a constitutional democracy framework that affords rights and duties on landowners and land claimants, they concluded.

@annacox

The Star

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