NELSPRUIT – Almost 18 years after lodging their land claim, the Enqunqini community has had no joy from the Land Claims Commission. Instead, it had to resort to laying criminal complaints against the Mpumalanga branch of the commission and is currently awaiting a court date to settle its civil claim. Mr Isaac Vusi Mokoena, chairman of the Enqunqini Community Business Trust, the legal entity claiming back a number of portions on land, showed Lowvelder documents indicating that a portion of the land the community has claimed was transferred to another communal property association.
The claim was first lodged by the father of Mokoena, Mr Pau Moses Mokoena on June 22, 1996 on behalf of the Enqunqini Ka-Majumba Community which was displaced from their land around Witklip in 1945. He has since died. It amounts to a total of approximately 4 153 hectares, of which some is state-owned land.
The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights noted in a memorandum number LHFM4 form that: “We recommend that the claim be gazetted as the claimant qualifies in and meets the requirements. A stated, the claimant was evicted together with his family and paid no compensation. This can be largely attributed to the effects of the past discrimination laws which gave no rights to natives and labourers and landowners. The claimant also qualifies because the eviction took place after 1913 and the claim was lodged before December 31,1998.” The claim was duly gazetted in July 2005. However, in subsequent documents relating to the claim, the reference number stayed the same, but the claimant’s name changed to Witklip community and later to Engcungcwini community.
On June 8, 2006, Mr Peter Mhangwani, regional land-claims commissioner of Mpumalanga, certified that the parties have reached an agreement on the claim. Since then, the settlement agreement have not been presented by the commission to Enqunqini, claims Mokoena.
On October 19, 2006, Mr TT Gwanya, chief of the Land Claims Commission, signed a memorandum requesting ministerial approval of settlement for all the portions except that of the government owned land, namely Portion 1 (615,2141 hectares), Portion 2 (568,1006 hectares), Portion 3 (512,6772 hectares) and Portion 4 (615,2284 hectares). These portions belong to the department of water affairs and forestry. “The state disposal committee is busy with the process of releasing the said portions,” reads page two of the report.
Then on December 13, 2007, the M61 application for the registration of the Engcungcwini CPA, with the same reference number as that of the Enqunqini claim was approved by Mr CK Chuene, project officer, Mr Mamabolo, deputy director legal unit, Ms L Archary, provincial chief director and the registration officer of the directorate of tenure implementation and support system in the department of land affairs.
In 2011 Lowvelder reported how the Enqunqini KaMajumba Business Trust have turned their claim into a criminal matter by placing their case in the hands of the police, since the trust firmly believes that fraud and corruption on the part of the very commission charged with finalising the claim, is behind the delay.
In September last year, the Land Claims Court ordered that all monies regarding the land be put into a trust account and that no further agreements be made regarding the utilisation of the land until the matter had been resolved.
Other documents show that in October, a portion of the land the community has claimed, namely the remaining extent of the farm 230 JT and Portions 7 and 8, were transferred from Gradely Farms, the previous owners, into the name of Engcungcwini Communal Property Association for the price of R18 million.
Mr Kenneth Mokoena, the legal representative of the Enqunqini community, said they had no idea who the Engcungcwini community was or where the money had gone. He said it could not be a mere administrative oversight caused by the phonetic spelling, and he has had numerous meetings with the commission about the inaccuracy. “They claim it is a different community.”
Now, the Enqunqini Ka-Majumba Business Trust is awaiting a court date for the matter to be finalised. Mokoena said the commission has failed to produce the settlement agreements they claim it has. The trust is also suing the commission for R994 million for loss of income due to the years the claim has stalled.
Mr Malema Ntsime, manager of communication services in the department of rural development and land reform, said they could not comment on the matter, since it was sub judice.
