The Office of the Regional Land Claims Commissioner: Limpopo (RLCC) will distribute vouchers worth R35.3 million as financial compensation to 118 families of Mamaila Bolobedu Tribe dislodged from their land of birth through dispossession. Each family will receive an amount of R299, 093.68
The distribution of vouchers will take place on the 18 February 2017 at Mamaila Bodobedu Tribal Office near Moeketsi in Greater Letaba local municipality under Mopani District starting at 10 AM. Members of the media are invited to attend.
The compensation comes as a result of the Commission having finalized the land claim lodged by Kgosigadi on behalf of the community authorised through a resolution that was signed by the tribe.
Research conducted by the Office of the RLCC has established that the Mamaila Bolebedu Tribe was removed from the claimed properties in 1968 after the Apartheid Government enacted the Black Resettlement Act of 1954. The tribe was ordered to vacate the land. It was relocated to an area which was allocated on the basis of ethnic affiliation
The claimed properties are described as farms Verschfontein 233LT (R/E and Portion 1), Elandsfontein 235 LT and Sterkfontein 203 LT in Greater Letaba Local Municipality in Limpopo Province.
The Commission conducted options workshop at Mamaila Bolobedu Tribal Hall with the claimants. They indicated that they need alternative compensation because the claimed properties are not feasible to restore.
During their stay the Mamaila Bolobedu Tribe had bigger portions of land and sufficient space to farm. They were farming with mangoes, maize, cattle and goats. During the removal, they left mangoes trees, graves and houses. They started building new houses at the place they were given. The place was so small and it was difficult for them to continue farming as they did on the previous farm.
There is no amount of money that can wipe away the pain suffered when they were forcefully taken away from their ancestral land; similarly there is no amount of money that can restore the dignity lost during such dispossessions. The compensation will assist the affected families to find closure.
