ALI MPHAKI
SOCCER giants Kaizer Chiefs and US television icon Oprah Winfrey have been ruled offside by the Bakwena-ba-Mare, a Phogole clan, who claim that almost the whole of the south of Joburg is their ancestral land.
The clan says the land on which Chiefs headquarters, Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy, the five-star Thaba ya Batswana conference resort and Southgate mall is situated belongs to them.
The area stretches from Naturena right up to De Deur and includes Zakariyya Park, Elandsfontein, Grasmere, Kibler Park, Henly-on-Klip, Comptonville, Eikenhof and Jacksonsdrift .
The clan submitted their claim to the Land Claims Commission in the early 1990s and are worried that the matter has not been resolved.
One of the claimants, pensioner Moses Molenga, from Moletsane, Soweto, said yesterday that he would die a happy man if the matter could be speedily concluded.
Molenga, 80, said he was born in the area. It was known as Misgund (a place of mist) in 1931. He said they were forcibly removed in the early 50s, and the more than 300 families who lived there are scattered all over the Reef.
Molenga said several graves of their forebears can be found near Kibler Park, some of which date back to the 1800s.
Molenga said as further proof that this is their ancestral land, when the new N1 between Joburg and Bloemfontein was mooted in the early 1980s, they met the authorities to ask them not to interfere with the graves near Grasmere.
He said their demands were finally heeded.
“I grew up in this area. I used to herd my father’s cattle around here until we were told that Africans were only allowed to keep a small herd. We were subsequently reduced to no more than labour tenants of the white farmers,” he said.
Another claimant who is running out of patience is Martha Motshele, who turns 100 next month.
Motshele, of White City Jabavu, Soweto, said the area she lived in was Tsorogwane. It comprised several farms and more than 80 portions were registered to private individuals, including Joburg City.
“What you know as Kibler Park, we used to call by its historical name of Motlhatlafung.
“We are still aggrieved about the manner in which our graves were dealt with in the process of establishing this suburb. Some of the graves were destroyed to give way to Kibler Park,” she said.
To show her knowledge of the area, Motshele said Eagle Mountain at Walkerville, which they used to refer to as Thaba ya Manong, was among the most sacred areas of Tsorogwane.
“No one would dare point a finger at Thaba ya Manong. To show respect for the sacred nature of the place, either a leg or a tongue would rather be used to point at it rather than a finger, as is common practice. it is also believed that anyone who dared go up this mountain never came back,” she said.
Motshele also claimed that part of the farm they lived on was used during the South African War of 1899-1902 by the British as an African refugee camp.
According to the Land Claims Commission, close to 99 percent of the 13 914 lodged claims in Gauteng and North West have been settled.
Gauteng’s spokesman for the commission, Tshifhiwa Tshikhudo, said there were many communities that brought claims and some did not meet the required criteria.
He said some of the claims were dismissed, some are still in court and some had to be reviewed.
“I cannot specifically talk about the claim by the Bakwena-ba-Mare a Phogole.
“I will definitely give you the whole low-down in the morning,” he said.
Gauteng Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said on Friday that at least R645 million has been paid to land claimants, who opted for cash instead of land in the province.
The province boasted of being ahead of the pack on land restitution issues. Out of 11 145 land claims, the outstanding 280 cases were in court.
The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, established in 1994, has settled 74 808 of 79 696 land claims lodged, which cost R16 billion.