Labour tenants’ long wait is over
by Ernest Mabuza,
2016-02-01 05:50:31.0
THOUSANDS of labour tenants’ 15-year wait to have their land claims case heard is over.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has been sitting on the tenants’ land claims since 2001, but their case will now be heard in the Land Claims Court next month. The labour tenants plan to ask the court to appoint a special master to oversee the processing of their claims.
Judge Mokotedi Mpshe said argument on whether a special master should be appointed or not could not be dealt with on Friday. He directed that the argument be heard on March 18.
When Parliament passed the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act of 1996‚ it made provision for labour tenants to claim land they, their parents and grandparents lived on and used. The cut-off date for submissions was March 2001 and 21,000 labour tenants across SA applied for land ownership.
By 2013‚ however, thousands of the applications had not been processed and an organisation representing the tenants approached the Land Claims Court to compel the department to explain how it intended to deal with the outstanding claims.
In 2014‚ the court ordered the department to file a report to it and the tenants before March 31 last year. But the department missed this deadline and every subsequent deadline. This prompted the tenants to set the matter down on Friday for an application to appoint a special master.
Advocate Michael Bishop told the court the tenants had been waiting for more than a decade to have their claims processed. Some of them were at risk of eviction because their applications had not been processed, he said. "Given government’s conduct in the litigation‚ the department has not been able to tell the court what it has done." A special master was needed to assist the department and the court, and the appointment would not infringe on the separation of powers doctrine.
However‚ Rudolph Jansen SC‚ for the department‚ said the appointment of a special master was a serious intrusion into the administrative functions of the department. The government had given undertakings and had honoured them.
Picture: THINKSTOCK
THOUSANDS of labour tenants’ 15-year wait to have their land claims case heard is over.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has been sitting on the tenants’ land claims since 2001, but their case will now be heard in the Land Claims Court next month. The labour tenants plan to ask the court to appoint a special master to oversee the processing of their claims.
Judge Mokotedi Mpshe said argument on whether a special master should be appointed or not could not be dealt with on Friday. He directed that the argument be heard on March 18.
When Parliament passed the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act of 1996‚ it made provision for labour tenants to claim land they, their parents and grandparents lived on and used. The cut-off date for submissions was March 2001 and 21,000 labour tenants across SA applied for land ownership.
By 2013‚ however, thousands of the applications had not been processed and an organisation representing the tenants approached the Land Claims Court to compel the department to explain how it intended to deal with the outstanding claims.
In 2014‚ the court ordered the department to file a report to it and the tenants before March 31 last year. But the department missed this deadline and every subsequent deadline. This prompted the tenants to set the matter down on Friday for an application to appoint a special master.
Advocate Michael Bishop told the court the tenants had been waiting for more than a decade to have their claims processed. Some of them were at risk of eviction because their applications had not been processed, he said. "Given government’s conduct in the litigation‚ the department has not been able to tell the court what it has done." A special master was needed to assist the department and the court, and the appointment would not infringe on the separation of powers doctrine.
However‚ Rudolph Jansen SC‚ for the department‚ said the appointment of a special master was a serious intrusion into the administrative functions of the department. The government had given undertakings and had honoured them.
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