Coming back to Grootvlakfontein
Rene-Jean van der Berg
29 January 2004
The Grootvlakfontein Nature Reserve in Kuruman in the Northern Cape, comprising approximately 6 821 hectares, has been handed back to its original owners - 68 years after they were evicted from the land under apartheid law.
Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza and Chief Land Claims Commissioner Tozi Gwanya handed over the land to the Metsimatswe community, who first inhabited the land around the year 1850, at a ceremony held last Friday.
The community stayed on the land unhindered for 115 years before being moved to two trust farms about 120km away under the Native Land Trust Act of 1936.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Didiza said that the story of Grootvlakfontein was filled with heroes and heroines, and that lessons could be learned from the community's journey to overcome their landlessness.
In 1998, Mr Mabogola of the Metsimatswe community handed over a claim with evidence to prove that Grootvlakfontein
originally belonged to his people.
The government will also help the Metsimangwe community to expand their agricultural activities into profit-making businesses with employment opportunities.
The community's activities will be linked into the integrated sustainable rural development plan within the Kgalagadi Cross Border District Municipality, which forms one of the development nodes launched by President Thabo Mbeki in 2001.
Source: BuaNews
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