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ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 5 • 12 - 25 MARCH 2010

NELSPRUIT

It has been 14 years since the Mbombela claimants, who were removed from Nelspruit to KaNyamazane in 1970, made their claim to be reimbursed for giving up their ancestral land.

Now the group, which has been reduced from an original 6 000 to about 2 200 claimants, is demanding that their money, amounting to more than R64.2-million, be paid out.

According to an agreement reached with the claimants, each verified owner of land is entitled to R57 000, while tenants will get R31 929 each.

So far, only 400 individuals have been paid a total of R7.2 million, in 2003 and 2004.

During the last meeting with the Mbombela Claimants Committee and Regional Land Claims Commission officials on November 19 last year, the commission promised to forward payments to the approved claimants on February 27.

“But three days before the due date, I received a call from the RLCC to say there were no funds available,” said Bernard Mashego, spokesperson for the claimants.

Most recently, during a meeting with the claimants in KaNyamazane on Sunday, acting chief land claims commissioner Andrew Mphela told them that the Regional Land Claims Commission payments were delayed by illegitimate claims by people who did not qualify.

“Payment to the outstanding accepted claims shall take place during April,” he promised the claimants.

Mphela said the verification process was taking long because of “non-compliance with the internal control system, missing claim files, collusion, corruption and misrepresentation of information by RLCC officials and claimants.

But Mashego said the RLCC was to blame and not the claimants.

“The community presented their claims in accordance with their stand numbers and the places where tenants lived in the former Mbombela village. It is the RLCC officials who created faults and irregularities by throwing away some of the files. Why has it taken the RLCC almost 14 years to verify the claims?” he asked.

He said allegations that some RLCC officials were demanding money from the claimants to fast-track their claims had led to the appointment of a forensic audit team.

“We asked for the investigation after we received complaints from claimants who were asked to pay bribes. The investigation started on September 7 last year and was completed in December, but we are still waiting for the results,” said Mashego.

Mphela said that the forensic audit had been completed but could not be released yet.

“The final report is awaiting signature by the director-general of the department,” he said.