R30 billion to settle existing and ‘new’ claims

The National Land Claims Commission will request another R30 billion from Treasury to conclude outstanding claims, acting chief land claims commissioner Blessing Mphela told reporters at a Western Cape press briefing last week.
Mphela believes this amount will be enough, despite analysts estimating the outstanding land claims will cost at least R60 billion to settle. He told the media the R30 billion will enable the commission to deal with the remaining cases, including complex claims in mining and forestry.
While confident his budget will balance if given the money, Mphela conceded the process is not running as smoothly as hoped. “We don’t see a completion of our task before 2014,” he said.
He also warned of a possibility that communities from the Eastern Cape, who lost their land during theso-called “Betterment Schemes”, might still lodge claims. “We were approached by communities as they were never compensated for their loss, but didn’t lodge claims during the window period,” explained Mphela. “If a claim is lodged now, it could affect up to 200 000 people.”
Allowing another claim to be lodged now might open the flood gates, as over the years the Land Claims Court has thrown out many combined claims that weren’t filed in time for the deadline. Examples include the Marken and Daisy Kopje claims in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. This may prolong an already drawn-out process.
Commenting on slow transfers, regional land claims commissioner for Gauteng and North West Tumi Seboka said comparing private market property transactions with restitution cases is unfair as they are vastly different. She added the commission will meet in February with Agri SA, TAU SA and Nafu as part of their efforts to foster partnerships with stakeholders. – Wouter Kriel