My name is Mohlahli Rashilo, Secretary of Seloane LandClaim Committee (SLCC). Our claim was submitted on the 22 May 1998 and gazzeted on 11 July 2008. All the necessary steps for the finalization of our claim have been taken and we have learnt through the government official that our claim is at an advanced stage of finalization for the purpose of restitution, which will be the first quarter of the financial year, 2014/15.
Our anxiety is that what will happen if the New Bill is passed before the current claim is finalized. In our view, it will encourage and open a window for counter claims by chiefs to contest the same land. We therefore recommend that the current claim in our case be finalized.
My name is Robert Mmaseeme, Chairperson of Tladi Ya Kgahlane Land Claim. Our claim was submitted in 03 October 1995 and gazetted on 11 February 2005. The only problem for our claim to be finalized is that there is a counter claim by Kgosi Mokgome Matlala who came to the land as a direct result of Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 and Tribal Authorities Act of 1958 as well as the implementation of the provisions of the same Acts. Kgosi Mokgome Matlala is originally from Jane Furse. Mokgome, together with his father, Kgosi Shikwane Matlala left Mashadi, popularly known as Jane Furse, in 1957. His father was a Ranger who supported discriminatory legislation. They settled at Mohlalaotwane. They never settled at Boshhoek, Nooitgezien and Ongezien. It is only after 1995 that we learn that Kgosi Mokgome Matlala also claimed the same land under review. According to records, Matlala tribe is also the landowner of the land under claim. This elevation is a direct result of successive apartheid legislations stated above.
Therefore, the passing of the New Bill will make Kgosi Mokgome Matlala to further advance his ambition in terms of possessing the land under review and various communities under different chiefs will still have no access to land.
SELOANE LAND CLAIM COMMITTEE SUBMISSION TO :
PHUMLA NYAMZA
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM
PARLIAMENT OF REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
P.O. BOX 15
CAPE TOWN
8000