Source: President of South Africa –
Programme Director,
Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Mr Mzwanele Nyhontso,
Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Thami Ntuli,
Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Ms Nomfundo Ntloko,
Mayor of the Harry Gwala District Municipality, Cllr Zamokwakhe Nxumalo,
Mayor of the Umzimkhulu Local Municipality, Cllr Jabulile Mzizi Msiya,
Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, Nkosi Sifiso Shinga,
Amakhosi bethu,
Members of the St Paul, Ngunjini and Ndzimankulu-Vierkant communities,
Members of the Lawrence family,
Representatives of the respective Communal Property Associations,
Representatives of Merensky, Singisi Forestry Products and the Singilanga Directorate Trust,
Representatives of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation,
Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon,
Today is a day for celebration. It is the culmination of a long journey.
The wait has been long, but the day has finally come when the Lawrence family and the communities of St Paul, Ngunjini and Ndzimankulu-Vierkant are handed back their land.
We know that some of the original claimants are no longer with us. But we are honoured to have their descendants present here today.
I want to thank you all for having faith in the democratic processes that culminated in your respective claims being successful.
We salute your resilience and unity as communities in your fight to reclaim what is rightfully yours.
Today we are gathered not just to give you the title deeds to your ancestral land; we are here to restore the dignity and belonging that was taken from you through a great injustice and suffering.
This great injustice was most starkly exemplified in 1913 Natives Land Act, which dispossessed black South Africans of their land, their livelihoods and their birthright.
Millions of people were forced off their farms to make way for white settlement. Their livestock was plundered.
In his book, Native Life in South Africa, Sol Plaatje describes meeting with the victims of this inhumane, deeply unjust law.
One person told him:
“The Baas came to the native tenants with the story that a new law had been passed, under which all my oxen and cows must belong to him, and my family to work for 2 pounds a month, failing which he gave me four days to leave the farm.”
The systematic dispossession of people’s land, which began way before 1913, was the original sin that has caused suffering for generations.
It stripped families of their livelihoods. They lost their livestock, their crops and their homes. They were stripped of their dignity, rendered pariahs in the land of their birth.
Today, we are handing over title deeds for a total of 18, 000 hectares of land.
Approximately 2 800 beneficiaries are covered under these four claims.
Five hundred and seventy-one female headed households across these four claims are now owners of their ancestral land.
This title deeds handover is taking place in the year that we celebrate 30 years since the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was signed into law.
Our Constitution recognises the right to redress of people who were deprived of their land as a result of past racially discriminatory practices.
Clause 25 of the Bill of Rights directs the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.
Among the measures the state may take is the acquisition of land for restitution purposes or redistributing state-owned land.
The land that has been restituted has been under long-term lease from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to Singisi Forestry Products, for commercial forestry use.
The land will continue to be maintained and utilised for commercial forestry, but the claimant communities are now the legal owners and will receive rental income from the use of their land. This income is key in improving the living conditions in the communities.
We are pleased to be joined today by representatives from Hans Merensky Holdings, Singisi Forestry Products and the Singilanga Directorate Trust as well as from the Eastern Cape Development Corporation. We wish to thank you for your cooperation in ensuring that the communities having their rights restored.
This is a fine example not only of positive collaboration in pursuit of our shared national goals, but also of sustainable and ethical business practice.
This represents the kind of stewardship we expect from responsible companies that recognise that the prosperity and success of their businesses is inseparable from the wellbeing of the communities that sustain them.
By supporting this restitution journey, companies are investing in the dignity, livelihoods and future of communities.
This restituted land will now benefit not just the original claimants but also their descendants for generations to come.
I call on companies – here and elsewhere in the country – to deepen their partnerships with beneficiary communities, and enable them to participate in the commercial value chain, access economic opportunities, and be part of decision-making structures.
The business community across our country should forge partnerships that help ensure that our land reform and rural economic initiatives bear fruits and improve the lives of our communities.
Restored land must translate to sustainable development.
It must be a vehicle for upliftment, for poverty alleviation and for job creation.
We call on the Communal Property Associations to use the financial benefits from this land restitution to develop their communities and to ensure that this prosperity is shared by all.
The handover of these title deeds on the eve of Human Rights Day reminds us that achieving our freedom was about far more than rights on paper.
It was and remains about advancing human dignity and building an economy and society that benefits all.
Land reform remains central to the promise of our democracy. Correcting historical land ownership injustice is a fundamental part of fulfilling that promise.
Since 1994, we have worked hard to reverse the painful legacy of land dispossession under colonialism and apartheid.
We have done this by working within the rule of law to ensure continued productivity of the land, while speeding up the process of redress for those affected.
To date, government has settled approximately 16,900 land claims across this province, KwaZulu-Natal.
Within the Harry Gwala District alone we have invested more than R376 million for land acquisition, financial compensation and development grants for communities that have been restituted.
Government’s land reform programme is designed to ensure that land restitution yields tangible benefits not just for communities but for the country’s economy.
As such, we continue to incentivise agricultural production and investments back into productive land.
We continue to strike a balance between the need to accelerate transformation in the agricultural sector with ensuring that we remain a food secure country.
Maintaining the balance between restorative justice and economic growth is key in our efforts to accelerate land reform.
The land reform process must help us in addressing the challenges the country continues to confront: low growth, high unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Land reform is essentially aimed at growing the pool of commercial farmers and at the same time creating jobs and growing the economy. We want to ensure that the rural economy remains vibrant and inclusive.
In support of this we are helping emerging farmers, new-entrant commercial farmers, and land claimants to use the land productively for poverty alleviation, job creation and grow the rural economy.
It is for this reason that we continue to highlight post transfer support as an essential part of land reform, which the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development will outline in the coming months.
Our democracy was founded on the promise that the injustices of the past would not define the future.
The title deeds being handed over today represent legal certainty, economic opportunity and generational security.
When we return land, we return identity and heritage. Most importantly, we restore hope.
This process has not been without challenges.
There are some in the community who are frustrated with the pace of land reform. Some people feel that their voices have not been heard or they have been left out.
Due to administrative hurdles, some properties are still in the process of being transferred.
We are committed to engaging on all these challenges and ensuring that the proper processes are concluded without undue delay.
We remain committed to ensuring that neighbouring villages understand how they can participate in the broader land reform and rural development programme of government.
Across our country, we will accelerate the process of tittle deeds transfer on restituted land and on the land under the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy.
Over the years, the state has acquired over two million hectares of land in this programme, and we are making a concerted effort to transfer it with title deeds.
Such transfer is key to boosting rural growth, inclusivity, job creation and addressing poverty. We will outline such steps as we proceed with these important efforts to restore dignity to the people of South Africa.
Today, the soil of Umzimkhulu bears witness to rebirth and restoration.
May this returned land continue be a source of dignity, prosperity, and opportunity for you all, and for generations to come.
I thank you.
