The Land Claims Commission is still complying with a court order by setting out the number of 80 000 outstanding “old order” claims and how it intended processing them.

This was revealed by Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso in a written response to EFF MP Sam Matiase’s enquiry about the number of “old order” and “new order” claims in each of the provinces.

He also wanted to know if the commission had explored options and approached the Land Claims Court as advised by the portfolio committee on Land Reform and Rural Development, to refer all claims lodged on or before 31 December to process the “old order” claims.

The Constitutional Court stopped the commission eight years ago from processing the claims that were lodged between 2014 and 2016, after ruling that the amendment to the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act passed by Parliament was unlawful.

The court ruling, known as Land Access Movement of South Africa (Lamosa), put in abeyance the processing of claims that were lodged between 2014 and 2016 until all land claims lodged by December 1998 were finalised.

In his response, Nyhontso said there were over 80 000 “old order” claims and 163 383 “new order” claims.

The breakdown of the “old order” claims is as follows:

* Mpumalanga has 10405 claims;

* Gauteng 22924;

* Northern Cape, 6129;

* Free State 24815;

* Eastern Cape 12654;

* Limpopo 16349;

* Western Cape 18654;

* KwaZulu-Natal 39868; and

*North West 11585.

Nyhonsto said the commission could only process the “old order” claims once Parliament introduced new legislation to deal with the interdicted claims.

A Private Members Bill was introduced by the ANC in August 2017 but it lapsed when Parliament rose at the end of fifth term in 2019.

Nyhontso said the Chief Land Claims Commissioner was required in terms of the court order to file a report with the Land Claims Court every six months, setting out the number of outstanding “old-order” claims and how it intended processing them with an anticipated date of completion.

The minister added that the commission was also required to indicate the nature of any constraints, whether budgetary or otherwise, it faced in meeting its anticipated completion date.

“The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has to date submitted nine reports to the Land Claims Court in compliance with the requirements of LAMOSA 2,” he said.

Cape Times

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Land Claims Commission still interdicted from processing 163 3838 “new order” claims