MBOMBELA – Residents of Kiepersol have expressed their disgruntlement with government following a land claim dispute.
This came to the fore when residents, who call themselves the Kiepersol land claims community, took to the streets to hand over a memorandum to the land claims department last week.
The memorandum, which is in this publication’s possession, states, “We have never been allocated with project officers or managers that have our interest at heart. We have held meetings since 2009 which had been called by the relevant project office on a quarterly or annual basis.”
People claim that this is due to the disappointment and dissatisfaction regarding the government’s system and its failure to deliver their land as claimed in 1998 and 1999.
It further read that they hadn’t received reports of their claim’s status on time and when they did get an update, they were not provided with documentary proof or minutes of such meetings.
“Project officers cause divisions between communities and beneficiaries by not meeting with them (beneficiaries) to enable them to voice their concerns.” read the memoradum. A group of residents commenced with their protest at Alro Park and walked to the regional land claims offices in town. One resident said that they had been promised by the premier,
Mr David Mabuza, that he would deliver their land within six months in 2009.
