Pretoria land claim: this is just the beginning
The controversial massive land claim that includes large areas of the eastern part of Pretoria and Cullinan, is just the beginning, warns TAU SA President, Mr Louis Meintjes (see report).
"Since 1998 TAU SA has been closely involved in land claims on agricultural land. We have ever since repeatedly warned about the constitutional provision that all land, including urban land, can qualify for the restoration of the so-called injustices of the past. In fact, the Constitution states clearly that the term ‘property' is not limited to real estate," said Mr. Meintjes.
Since the first land claims process has started, TAU SA supported many of its members and administered the claims to their advantage. "No claim is necessarily automatically a legal claim if it is submitted or even when it is published in the Government Gazette," said Mr. Meintjes. "In many cases we could prove that the submitted claims were actually illegal. Also in the Pretoria-Cullinan land claim we asked our Farmers Union in Cullinan to urgently gather all data in order to determine whether this claim, which affects thousands of property owners, is a legal claim."
Last year, the government introduced a second five-year period during which claims for land can be submitted. It is expected that up to about 379,000 claims will be submitted. "As soon as a claim is registered, some of the economic activities on that land come to a halt. Improvements cannot be made without permission and there is a limitation in trading the property.
"The agricultural community had to deal with this debilitating and restrictive process for nearly 20 years now and it will still be going on for some time in future. The Pretoria land claim now shows that property owners of non-agricultural land are also victims of land claims. However, the fact that the claimant in this case stated that he wants ownership of the land but that he is prepared to offer long leasing periods to residents, is perhaps a first of its kind. This is a serious threat to established property rights, and the expectation is that claims of these kind will increase during the next five years," says Mr. Meintjes.
"It is therefore imperative that all stakeholders need to consolidate to protect the principle of property rights as part of the free market."
Statement issued by TAU SA President, Mr Louis Meintjes, February 19 2015
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