Villagers at Nwamankena, in Giyani area, received a R62,5 million restitution award as compensation for the land they were forcefully removed from more than four decades ago.
Each of the 282 households received a R221894 restitution voucher from the Land Claims Commission during a ceremony that was held recently.
According to the Office of the Limpopo Regional Land Claims Commissioner, the community lodged a land claim in 1998 after they were forcibly removed in 1968 through the apartheid regime’s homeland system, which resulted in the displacement of millions of black people.
The apartheid government sought to resettle people according to ethnicity through the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959.
The community was then moved from the former Lebowa area reserved for Sepedi speakers because they were Tsonga speaking. Areas included in the land claim are Verschofontien, Elandsfontein, Makgakgapatse and Mamokgadi in Bolobedu.
Spokesperson for the Limpopo Regional Land Claims Commission, Avhashoni Magada said awarding financial compensation to the community does not necessarily suggest that the commission is moving away from its core mandate of restoring land to the communities. “It’s only the circumstances that are found during investigation of such claims which dictates that direction,” said Magada
He encouraged people to use the funds towards improving their homes and educating their children.
