Former residents of Eldorie in Odendaalsrus in the Free State want their land back. They are appealing to government for the restitution of their land.
Residents were forcefully removed from their land in 1954 and their houses completely destroyed by the apartheid government.
They say during former president Thabo Mbeki’s tenure they were promised their ancestral land. But to date, that promise has not been fulfilled.
They say they have been sent from pillar to post for the past 15 years. The residents say they have been in a series of meetings with the Free State Department of Human Settlements and the Matjhabeng Municipality.
Eighty-four-year-old Mamiki Macheoane is one of the few people who are still alive who lived on that land.
Macheoane says she is afraid that if they all pass away, their children and grandchildren will never get back what was taken forcefully from them.
“We are just muddled up. We don’t know what is happening because, for 15 years, we tried to resolve this, but we don’t know what has been done. Everybody who always comes to attend this case will always tell you that it is the first time I hear of this thing. So, it just goes on like that. Is there no hand-over so that the person who was there first could just hand over to the next person, so that when the person comes into the position can say this has happened?”
Another land claim beneficiary, Simon Chabedi says he would be glad to return to the place he grew up at.
“We want to go back to the stands of our parents where they lived, where they were forcefully removed and today, we want to go there forcefully because we lived happily there. I was 16 years-old when we left this place.”
Marantha Land Claim Organiser, Victor Kobo says under the democratic government each family affected received R40 000 compensation in 2007.
Kobo says those who were willing to go back to their land received R15 000 each.
“They must rebuild our fathers’ houses. In other words, we want that money that was left back to us again, and then we must rebuild our old location. Otherwise, somebody must take responsibility as to where is our money. So, they must pay back the money or they must give us our land back, this is what we want to finish and klaar.”
SABC News made numerous attempts to get comment from the Department of Human Settlements about the unfulfilled promises to residents and to date the department has not responded.
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