The Land Claims Commission has announced that it has processed 90% of the 80 000 land claims received since the 1998 cut-off year.
Reflecting on the 30th anniversary of the Restitution of Land Rights Act, the commission held a function at the Freedom Park Heritage Site in Pretoria to review progress made under the Act, which aims to restore dignity through land rights.
Chief Land Claims Commissioner Nomfundo Ntloko highlighted the achievements and ongoing challenges in the restitution programme.
“We have about 5 000 claims that are still outstanding, but not just looking at the numbers, it’s important for us to actually just look at what we will be able to achieve. We’ve got about 3.8 million hectares that we’ve acquired under the restitution programme, and we’ve spent over R59 billion overall on financial compensation or land restoration for those communities that were able to get the land back. Today, we want to ask the question: what have we done successfully?”
The commission continues to focus on resolving outstanding claims and assessing its overall impact.
Commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Restitution of Land Rights Act
Story by: Lerato Makola
