NATIONAL NEWS - A group of Indian people in Durban have started the ambitious task of reclaiming land that was allegedly taken from them during apartheid.
These properties, located in Malacca, Durban North, have since been occupied by informal settlements, factories and churches.
Robin Naidoo is the founder of the Indian Land Claimants, a Phoenix-based association with about 200 members who say they have a legitimate and historic claim to lands in Durban North.
Naidoo said in the 1970s, many Indians were forcibly removed by the apartheid government from what is now known as the Glen Anil suburb and moved to Phoenix.
Many of those Indians, Naidoo said, are still alive and want to stake their claim to the land that was taken away from them.
We were given a choice whether to take a bit of money and move or be forcibly moved and not receive anything so obviously we took the money but it was a pittance.
For over 20 years, Naidoo has sought ways to prove his legitimate claim to a plot of land in Durban North which is now occupied by a factory.
Like many people, Naidoo has not had any joy through the country’s land restitution programme.
According to government records there are thousands of land claims across the country, some of which date to the 1990s.
Earlier this year, David Mabuza, South Africa’s deputy president, told the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights, which is responsible for facilitating land claims, that the government needed at least R65 billion to clear a backlog of 7 000 claims.
The Indian Land Claimants association held a public meeting this week where they brainstormed strategies to further their cause.
With the court route bound to be long and costly, Naidoo said they have approached members of parliament for assistance.
One such person is leader of the Minority Front, Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi who is a member of the provincial legislature.
On August 4, Thakur-Rajbansi wrote to the KZN ad hoc committee on land claims urging it to broaden its mandate and term to consider all claims, with recommendations, before finalising its report.
The committee was established in 2020 to investigate factors hampering the province’s land restitution programme.
“Land claims continue to be a burning issue in KZN due to the closure of the claims register in 1998 and between 2014 to 2016,” said Thakur-Rajbansi.
“Today, with greater awareness more people feel cheated due to forced removals as a result of the Group Areas Act; others have registered claims but await restitution remedies and others have claims but the register has closed.”
Naidoo said this fight was not just for generations before him but for future generations.
“Majority of our Indian land claimants are over 60, on pension and need land so they can build their own houses which the [government] cannot provide for them. Is the [government] waiting for us to die or abandon our land claims because that’s what it looks like,” he said.
