Perspectives on the restitution programme with special reference to the Mamahlola Community in the Maruleng Local Municipality of Limpopo Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate perspectives of the restitution programme with special reference to the Mamahlola community in the Maruleng Municipality of Limpopo Province in South Africa. The community is among the many who were dispossessed of their land during the apartheid era. After a long struggle, empowered by new legislation passed on the country’s attainment of democracy in 1994, the community received their dispossessed land back. Based on a qualitative research design, the study uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. Three focus groups participated in the study. These consist of the Banareng ba Letsoalo Tribal Council, the Maruleng Local Municipality Ward 9 Ward Committee and the Mamahlola Communal Property Association. The findings of this research reveal that, ironically, the land restitution programme did not bring any improvement to the livelihoods of the Mamahlola community, as would have been expected. Instead, it raised accusations of financial maladministration, poor communication, mistrust, conflict and divisions within the previously homogenous community. The study recommends that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Department of Agriculture should play oversight roles in all settled restitution claims relating to food production, to ensure continuity and proper financial management. Secondly, it recommends that beneficiaries should be trained in skills relevant to land activities to ensure that the owners of the land work the land. Thirdly, the settlement plan should include an employment plan for the beneficiaries to ensure that they also benefit from the land; and lastly, the issue of the distance between the current location and the claimed land needs to be addressed as part of the settlement plan, as it seems to have contributed significantly to the failures of the Mamahlola project and contradicts the objectives of the restitution programme.