The year 2013 marks 100 years since the promulgation of the 1913 Natives’ Land Act, which is a discriminatory piece of Legislation through which the majority of Black South Africans were dispossessed of their Land rights. 18 years since the democratic government came into office, decisive strides have been made to reverse the negative effects of this legislation which affected millions of South Africans, in particular, the black majority.
In 1999, farm workers at the farm Liliespan in North West embarked on a labour strike demanding better employment and social conditions and Mr Maruping Simon Serole was amongst them. During the protest there were confrontations and Mr.Serole sustained back injuries and admitted at the hospital. After a week he was discharged from the hospital, spent some weeks at home and later passed on, on 20 January 1999.
His family approached the farm owner to request him to grant a permission to bury Mr Serole on the farm and he refused arguing that they were on labour strike and he did not want anything to do with them anymore, despite the fact that there were graves on the farm. The family was left with no options but to put him to rest by the side of the road in February 1999.
As part of the intervention the department of Rural Development and Land Reform identified and acquired a farm called Buffeldoorn, measuring 21 hectares in the Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District, Tlokwe Local Municipality and relocated twenty evicted households from Liliespan there in August 2000. Subsequent to this, the department assisted the community to form a legal entity called Baitshoki Communal Property Association to administer and manage land on behalf of other members.
On Thursday 21 March 2013, the department will have a reburial ceremony and the unveiling of a memorial plaque that is befitting of any human being as a symbolic gesture of restoring the rights and dignity of Mr Serole.
His case highlights socio-economic conditions of communities living and working on farms, such as employment and wages, housing, education etc. It further highlights the plight of farm workers towards underdevelopment, inequality and need for land reform for both settlement and production and the urgent need for legislation reform and institutional transformation to reverse the legacy of 1913 Natives’ Land Act. The incidents like this should bring us together as a nation and build a true, democratic and free society based on equality, development and justice for all.
As the department we pledge that we will never again be party to legislation which leads to misery for our fellow countrymen and women. We pledge to be fair, to uphold each other’s right to access land as enshrined in our country’s constitution, to help alleviate the sufferings of the less-privileged, to do what we can to uplift the downtrodden; in the knowledge that in doing so, we lift ourselves, our country, and our hopes for the future.
Enquiries:
Sehloho Mphati, Head: Newsroom
Cell: 083 977 4040
Tel: 012 312 8112
