KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Cyril Xaba, launched the services of a mobile Land Restitution office that will be travelling around the province to allow people to lodge their land claims. The service is being offered as part of the re-opening of the land claims process. MEC Xaba addressed a gathering of provincial mayors, council speakers, traditional leaders and NGO’s in Durban, calling on them to create awareness of the service.
He said that the mobile lodgement bus will be shared with the Eastern Cape, spending three months at a time in each province. According to MEC Xaba, KZN only has two lodgement offices in Pietermaritzburg and Vryheid at present. With the mobile office, claimants will be able to lodge their claims near where they live without having to travel long distances. He said this will be especially helpful for the elderly and the disabled. MEC Xaba added that the bus is fitted with technology so that claims are processed electronically. “Government is confident that this time around, the process will work much faster because all claims will be lodged electronically rather than was done manually previously,” he said. The gathering heard that the land claims process was re-opened because of public demand. “The people have spoken and Government listened,” MEC Xaba said. He added that in KwaZulu-Natal, 16000 claims were lodged in the first land claim period that ended in December 1998. Of these, 14 000 had been processed with just 2000 claims outstanding. These are to be processed simultaneously with the new claims, with priority for payment given to those lodged before 1998. MEC Xaba warned communities to beware of opportunists who charge people to lodge land claims. He stressed that the service was absolutely free and no money should change hands. He also warned that those who claimed before and received redress either in the form of land or financial compensation, could not claim again for the same right.
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