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ECSTATIC: Deputy Minister of Rural Development Lechesa Tsenoli shows off a chegue given to the community of Sediba in Thaba Nchu at the weekend. photo: Michael Tlhakudi

 Our children must be aware that without education you are nothing 

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Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti gave the cheque to the ecstatic Sediba community in Thaba Nchu, Free State, to try and heal the injustices of the past.

This compensation, he said, was in line with the ethos of the provision of the restitution of land rights.

When handing over the cheque, Nkwinti said he hoped the dignity of the people of Sediba had been restored.

"This land was taken away from this community by the apartheid regime and we have given them what belongs to them. This indicates that we have succeeded in providing our people with their land back," Nkwinti said.

He said what happened in the past was wrong and his department needed to improve the lives of the victims.

The Sediba Reserve is one of the three native reserves in the Free State that were established in terms of the Native Land Act of 1913. The others are Thaba Nchu Reserve and Witsieshoek Reserve.

Outside these reserves blacks could not buy or rent land and neither could they acquire the right to land inside the reserves.

The settlement celebration was attended by Rural Development and Land Reform the Deputy Minister Lechesa Tsenoli, Free State premier Ace Magashule and a number of MECs from the Free State.

Beneficiaries could not hide their excitement after accepting their cheque.

Nkwinti said 511 households were expected to benefit from this financial settlement.

"This was the second phase held in a remote rural area. The first phase involved about R19-million that benefited 219 households and about R50-million more is expected to be handed out before the end of the year," Nkwinti said.

He said 23 areas were taken into consideration when the claim was validated.

All claimants are expected to provide the traditional council with identification documents in order to receive payment, the minister said.

"The residents up to this moment do not have ownership rights to the lands given to them, however, the traditional council holds the land on their behalf while they are provided with permission to occupy," he said.

The community of Sediba, led by the late Meshack Moletsane of Morago village, lodged a claim in 1997 on one of the reserves and one of the villages where residents were arrested during apartheid.

Some could not hide their excitement when the minister handed over the cheque.

One of the beneficiaries, Lydia Jammond, who was born and bred in Sediba was thrilled that her land had been restored after all these years.

She said she had waited all her life for this day to come.

"To me this is a joyful day," an elated Jammond said.

"We have finally been given our freedom back after suffering for so many years."

Jammond spoke about how they had suffered during the apartheid era.

Another resident and claimant Susan Kganare, 68, said: "We have been through a lot. The apartheid regime made us suffer in a terrible way."

She said she was going to share her experience with today's youth.

She encouraged the youth to take education seriously.

"No one is going to make it in this lifetime without being educated. Our children must be aware that without education you are nothing.

"We are happy with the compensation from the government," Kganare added.

Comments

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Fri May 24 14:25:18 SAST 2013 ::

Mar 13, 2012

Noir19

...and then the fight start, with who will receive how much?? and whole loot will be spent on lawyers.
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Mar 13, 2012

MorenaWaPolelo

I doubt if the land was worth 42 million this is a rip off!!!! pure rip off!!!
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Mar 13, 2012

kolobe

what a waste of money,why are we buying stolen goods?
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Mar 13, 2012

SeshegoGuY

A similar thing happened in North West and now they are fighting like kids and there are so many pending Court cases
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Mar 13, 2012

Dandan

kolobe

speechless too, at some stage the anc is very disappointing, all they know the best are tenders, in that area they are very good,

Land that was taken /owned pre94 should be declared null and void, it is those ppl who occupied that land illegally that must compensate the victims , who were removed as result their live stocks dissapeared

its pity PAC is nt out about this
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Mar 13, 2012

jimmythecleaner

Eish, lets see how much of the money will actually go the the 511 households.


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Mar 13, 2012

MshekeshekeLower

About R83K per household, thats nothing...yheerrr. Mayb its better than nothing @ all.
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Mar 13, 2012

Phunyukabemphethe

I smell a rat someone is not going get even single cent, look at this jubilant old man. One of his child,grandson,cousin even umakhapheni is definitely going to have share even though was not born by 1913
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Mar 13, 2012

Blackthought

Can of worms across the country. Lawyers will be smilling all the way to the bank.
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Mar 13, 2012

WarrenG

Soon you see a few of the community with BMW's, flash clothes etc...some with nothing...then maybe an odd house built...then eventually probably 80% of the cash will have vanished... and everyone upset. This is how it goes.
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