Pretoria - The land claim covering almost half of Pretoria will continue despite the death of the claimant, Victor Velaphi Lekhuleni, on Tuesday night.
Lekhuleni, of Mamelodi East, who claimed to be the chief of Bakgatla Ba Lekhuleni communities, was gunned down in the neighbouring Mamelodi West. Details surrounding the incident were still sketchy on Wednesday night, but police said they were investigating.
Chief land claims commissioner, Nomfundo Gobodo, told the Pretoria News the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights would continue to process the claim. “Lekhuleni lodged the complaint on behalf of the Bakgatla Ba Lekhuleni communities. We shall continue with the claim on behalf of the community as instructed by the Land Claims Court.
“We send our condolences to his family. We are deeply shocked and saddened by his death,” Gobodo said.
Lekhuleni originally lodged the land claim covering almost half of the capital city, including the northern and eastern regions, as well as part of the Magaliesberg mountain, in 1996. He hosted an annual initiation school for boys and girls on the mountain.
The commission did not immediately follow up on the claim by publishing it in the Government Gazette.
Twice Lekhuleni had to turn to the court, the last time being in August last year. The court ruled in his favour and referred the matter back to the commission.
The commission eventually published the land claim in February this year, sparking a huge outcry and panic from affected communities.
This was followed by a stakeholders’ public meeting last month. In claiming the land, Lekhuleni said the forced removals of 1958 to 1960 by the apartheid government robbed Bakgatla communities of the right to land ownership, habitation, grazing, crop farming, burial sites and tradition.
He argued the land had to be returned to his people because it has significant cultural value to them.
However, a group claiming to be the Lekhuleni royal family and council, said he was not royalty and had no right to claim land on their behalf. Describing him as their distant cousin, members of the group, which also lodged a claim for the same land, distanced themselves from him.
This dispute forms part of the investigation into the land claim.
Lekhuleni’s attorney, Vivien de Klerk, said he was shocked and saddened about his client’s death. He described him as a paramount chief and most senior traditional leader of the Bakgatla Ba Lekhuleni communities, adding he was murdered.
“We are in the process of establishing the exact circumstances of the incident. We request the media and all other interested parties to allow the family, relatives and friends time and opportunity to come to terms with this cowardly murder and to be able to grieve in privacy,” he said.
De Klerk stated the land claim which his client submitted was on behalf of the Bakgatla communities and not in a personal capacity, and therefore would not be affected by his death. He requested the police to protect the family members as they took appropriate steps in terms of traditional law, and while police investigations were proceeding.
Peter Lekhuleni, Lekhuleni royal family and council governor, said they were shocked by the news of his death. “We do not have the full details of what happened, but it was all too sudden and unexpected. All members of the royal family and council are extremely disturbed.”
Eddie Mnguni, of the Mamelodi East community policing forum, who was informed of the incident at about 9pm on Tuesday, expressed his condolences and appealed for calm.
He said angry people were searching for the culprits in Mamelodi West and urged them not to take matters into their own hands.
When the Pretoria News visited Lekhuleni’s home in David Lukhele Street on Wednesday, several men and women were visiting the house. There were boys washing cars near the gate while at least five teenagers sat near the boundary wall, which is adorned with a colourful mural of chiefs. Lekhuleni’s widow was inside the house with two elderly women who referred all queries to two men said to be seniors of the family. The men declined to comment and directed questions to De Klerk, saying “we do not want to be bothered, especially by the media”.
Down the road three men sitting on the pavement drinking beer confirmed that they had heard the “man from the corner house”, who hosted initiation schools on the mountain, had died. Another commented that he heard the man, who always dressed like a king or sangoma, had been shot dead at Section C5 (Mamelodi West).
Pretoria News