Lim citizens voice their grievances about land reform
The High Level Panel, a 17-member panel, led by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, met with residents to discuss their grievances
POLOKWANE – During a recent Limpopo Public Hearing, citizens of the province voiced their grievances and said they were fed up with asking the government to give the land back to relevant communities.
The High Level Panel, a 17-member panel, led by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, met with residents to discuss their grievances to prepare a report and recommendations to make Legislature more effective as a driver of transformation.
The High Level Panel’s mission is to assess key legislation passed by parliament since 1994 and they met with citizens at Bolivia Lodge on Tuesday.
Assessment will be done by engaging in public consultations across the country and other research processes and will evaluate how the laws of democracy assisted or obstructed the country in realising the kind of society envisaged in the Constitution.
Its work is divided into three streams – poverty, unemployment, inequality and equitable distribution of wealth; land reform and rural development; and social cohesion and nation building.
Moletjie Land Forum Representative, Pitsi Mokgehle, said the Moletjie Tribal Authority was given certain farms after 1994 but the title deeds are still with the minister of land reform. He said they have been requesting the title deeds “for ages” but nothing has happened thus far.
“We want the title deeds so our people can benefit from the farms given to them. There is nothing we can do with the farms without the title deeds. We don’t have government but officials who only think for themselves,” Mokgehle said.
Motlanthe said the land issue is broad and needs to be looked into. “This issue has been raised in almost all the provinces and needs to be given priority for our people to be satisfied,” Motlanthe said.
One of the Limpopo CPI Forum Representatives, Lefa Mabuela, said one of their grievances was that “blacks are only given a couple of hectares while whites occupy the bigger land.”
To this Motlanthe said the panel will compile a report with recommendations to be handed over to the Speakers’ Forum by the end of July. The report will be made public for citizens to see the changes made in the legislation.
Another discussion was the topic of traditional councils charging levies illegally. A legal researcher, Shirami Shirinda, said traditional leaders don’t have the power or rights to tax residents. He added that tribal levies are illegal and residents should stop paying.
“Traditional leaders get grants and salaries from government but still ask for tribal levies from residents. Only communities in Limpopo still pay tribal levies and this must come to an end,” explained Shirinda.
