Media Statement

Yesterday, 13 June 2006, farm dwellers from Impendle occupied the offices of the Regional Land Claims Commission. They arrived to meet the government officials to discuss their concerns and on finding that no one had taken their request for a meeting seriously elected to stage a sit-in until the relevant officials arrived to meet them. Late yesterday afternoon officials from the RLCC, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Land Affairs and Ezemvelo arrived to discuss their concerns. The sit-in has proceeded through the night with the farm dwellers remaining in the Commission offices all night, despite threats of removal from the riot police. This morning, 14 June 2006, they are expecting an official from the Premiers office to address them.

The farm dwellers from Impendle regard themselves as labour tenants and assert that they have lodged claims in accordance with the governments land reform programme, under the Land Reform ( labour tenants) Act. They assert that when forced removals took place in the area, some residents on the land remained behind and became labour tenants on the farms. Since the removals new families were also moved onto the farms and became labour tenants. Despite this legally recognised land rights status they have been marginalized, by government officials, in the interests of a larger restitution claim by the group of families that were removed.

For the past 10 years these labour tenant families have attempted to engage with our governments land reform programme to ensure that they also reap the benefits of transformation and development. Following the numerous meetings, the numerous changes in government officials dealing with their matter and the numerous changes in approaches by government in addressing this area, the farm dwellers now find themselves completely marginalized by the land reform process in the area. They claim that government has consulted poorly with them in planning for the area and has not heard their legitimate claims to the land.

The Association For Rural Advancement (AFRA) joins the Impendle community and the Landless Peoples Movement in their criticism of governments treatment of farm dweller issues. There are numerous cases across the province of KZN which reflect very similar problems to the ones experienced by the Impendle Farm dwellers. Not only is land reform implemented in a bureaucratic and undevelopmental fashion, it ignores a critical sector of our society by not addressing the issues of farm dwellers specifically.

Between KZN and Mpumalanga over 20 000 labour tenant claims were lodged, the majority of which remain unresolved to date. People on farms continue to face the harsh reality of severe inequality under our new government, as farms are taken over by those in society with more power and more money, under the guise of Agri-BEE, conservation, preserving food security and game farming/ tourism ventures. Despite all legalisation passed to protect their land rights they continue to face evictions and human rights abuses and in some cases death, as reported recently in papers.

AFRA joins the call from the farm dwellers of Impendle for a review of the land reform programme and for the creation of a dedicated programme to redress and transform the lives of people living on farms.

Issued by Association For Rural Advancement (AFRA )

Contacts:

Lisa Del Grande - 083 461 1426

Sifiso Kunene - 0827079947

Thabo Manyathi - 0835293981