THE Land Claims Commission is being dragged to court for its failure to finalise a 19-year-old land claim.

Bakwena ba Mare a Phogole, a Tswana clan, has lodged a contempt of court application in the Land Claims Court in Randburg against the regional land claims commission and the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights.

About 1800 members of the clan are claiming a massive portion of land located in the south of Johannesburg.

The land in dispute covers Ridgeway, Walkerville, Brackendowns and the Golden Highway.

It is currently under the jurisdiction of the City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Midvaal municipalities and many developments have taken place there.

In January this year, the same court ordered that both commissions accept the validity of the clan's application and that the claim should be published in the Government Gazette within 60 days of the order.

The commissions were also instructed to pay the applicant's legal fees. This did not happen.

The land claims commission also failed to gazette the claim on August 29, citing hiccups, and promised to do so the following week. This did not happen.

In court papers filed last Friday, the clan's committee chairman Jacob Ngakane submitted that "the respondents were just being difficult and purposely delaying the matter."

"The respondents show no concern for the orders of the court granted herein in terms of our constitutional rights and in ensuring that this matter is dealt with swiftly," read court papers in parts.

Ngakane told Sowetan that they had done all that was required to get their land back lawfully.

"We felt that the [land] commission was giving us the middle finger. They even did research where they interviewed the elders and visited our grave sites," said Ngakane.

Eleven cemeteries that date back to the 1800s belong to the Phogole clan. About 700 small farms are spread across the area which includes Kliprivier Nature Reserve, which is in the process of being renamed after the Phogole.

Hank Smith, land rights expert lawyer at the Legal Resources Centre, said lack of capacity and research within the commission hindered its work and, as a result, 80000 claims from 1994 were still outstanding.

He said that a new window period, which opened in June for new submissions, might have a negative effect on existing claims because about 400000 new claims were expected.

sifilel@sowetan.co.za

Victims still long for land and peace they lost, 70 years on

ANGER fills Daniel Raditlhalo's face as he gingerly walks with his stick inside the broken walls of a building that was once his school more than 70 years ago.

The 80-year-old man's family is one of hundreds of Bakwena Ba Mare A Phogole who were forcefully removed by the apartheid government in the 1950s from Motlhatlhafung Village near Naturena, south of Johannesburg.

Raditlhalo is one of about 1800 claimants who have approached the Land Commission to reclaim the huge chunk of land in Johannesburg South.

During the forced removals, which took place over 20 years, many families sought refuge in Soweto, leaving their cattle and homes behind. The removals were carried out by police who used sjamboks on anyone resisting their orders.

The amendment of the Native Urban Areas Act in 1927 enabled the government to relocate people without first providing them with accommodation.

The old gravesite and Thaba Ya Mantate, a mountain where villagers prayed for rain, are some of the prominent features that are still found in the village.

Wesile Primary School, which also doubled as a church, was once the pride of the people of Motlhatlhafung.

The one-room hall accommodated three grades taught by one teacher. As a result of the removals, the building is now being used as a dumping site.

"My heart aches whenever I think about the good old days. We were happy. Food was in abundance. We had cattle and there was always a reason to slaughter and celebrate. People cared for each other," said Raditlhalo, who now lives in Moletsane, Soweto.

His family was removed in 1956.

"There was no written notice. We were just told that we have three months to vacate the land. We tried to resist. One day the police on horseback came to our home and forced us out with sjamboks.

"I was hit with a wire and my nose was cut," said Raditlhalo pointing at cut on his face.

"Soweto was the only place where we could go. It took me years to adjust to township life. I was introduced to poverty, crime and noise. I still resent white people. They don't know the harm they caused us," he said.

Dineo Ngakane-Setshedi, 67, was 21 years old when police raided her home in 1968. A policeman's sjambok cut the skin on her leg. Her family relocated near Eldorado Park.

"This place is still close to my heart. Whenever my grandchildren were sick, I would take them to the ruins of the hut where I was born. [I'd] rub their foreheads with the dust from the ruins and talk to the ancestors at their graves and they would feel better," she said.

"I want my parents' land back. We have lots of expertise to develop it and it worries me that our claims are not being taken seriously by the courts. I will die fighting for this," she said.

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