Salem Land Claim Farmers Committee chairman Misile Nodzube has called on people with an interest in the Salem land-claim case to attend the sitting of the Land Claims Court in Grahamstown on Friday 2 May.
Salem Land Claim Farmers Committee chairman Misile Nodzube has called on people with an interest in the Salem land-claim case to attend the sitting of the Land Claims Court in Grahamstown on Friday 2 May.
Judgment in the long-running case is expected on Friday. The court will sit in the Eastern Cape High Court.
The case involves the Salem Commonage, a tract of land around the village occupied by smallholdings and farms ranging from 60ha to 200ha, including a private game farm and lodge. It also includes the Salem Club and cricket grounds and its two churches.
The case has been running since 2012.
Since the inception of land redistribution in December 1998, only seven out of 40 farms have been reinstituted. The negotiation phase deadlocked over property evaluation results. Some land owners accepted the results, while others refuted them.
Referring to Section 14 (2) of the Restitution of Land Rights Act, the claimants say their forebears were dispossessed of the land in terms of racially discriminatory laws and practices. The court documents state:
"After the promulgation of the Natives Land Act of 1913, and by the 1920s, a location was laid out on the commonage and the rights of the community were gradually restricted…"
In April 2012, landowners offered the claimants one farm – an offer they turned down.
The claimants are Mzukisi Madlavu, Lingani Nondzube, Mtutuzeli Madinda, Douglas Rwentela, Misile Nondzube and Ndoyisile Ngqiyaza. Their legal representative is Cape Town advocate Joel Krige.
The current farmers, represented by advocate SC Roberts, are arguing that the claimants' forebears were not a community, but labourers.
