Napo tribe gets land back
Bobo Lukhele
18 February 2004
About 99 Napo tribe households, 45 of which are headed by women, have become the rightful owners of land that belonged to their ancestors more than 200 years ago.
The Mpumalanga Commission on Restitution of Land Rights handed over 513 hectares of the Kameelpoort farm, situated in the KwaMhlanga area in Mpumalanga, to the tribe on Saturday.
According to Nceba Nqana, the province's land claims commissioner, the community's ancestors occupied the land from around 1800, "but over the years their rights were systematically reduced and eroded until they became mere labour tenants".
From 1948 to 1965, the community was ordered to leave the land as part of the apartheid government's policies. They could continue living on the land only as labourers, servants of the new owners, or legal squatters.
The commission approved the community's claim on the land, awarding restitution discretionary grants and settlement planning grants amounting to
R439 560. The land has been valued at R117 841.67.
Nqana said that other claims to be settled in Mpumalanga this year include claims in Maleoskop, Elandshoogte, Badplaas and Piet Retief.
Source: BuaNews
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