The lawyer handling the Pretoria land claim for Bakgatla ba Lekhuleni has told how‚ weeks before he was killed‚ the clan's Chief Victor Lekhuleni took him up the Magaliesberg mountains‚ east of Pretoria‚ to view parts of the claimed land.
Advocate Jurg Prinsloo said: “That is how I came to appreciate how important the claim was for his people but like Moses (in the Bible)‚ he saw the promised land but did not live to reach it”.
He said though the murder robbed the community of its representative‚ it was “stupid” for anyone to think that the Chief's death would affect the land claim.
“Once the royal family appoints a temporary Kgosi (Chief) or a successor‚ we simply continue with the claim.”
Lekhuleni‚ who was claiming 25000ha of Pretoria for his tribe‚ the Mhwaduba of the Bakgatla ba Lekhuleni‚ was killed in Mamelodi West‚ in Tshwane early this month.
The land being claimed stretches from Cullinan‚ east of Pretoria‚ to Moot‚ and from Kameeldrift in the north to The Willows in the south. The land‚ which is said to be worth billions‚ includes diplomatic properties‚ the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research‚ more than 400 farms‚ shopping centres‚ hospitals‚ schools‚ churches and thousands of homes‚ and part of the Magaliesberg.
Prinsloo met Lekhuleni in 2009 when he came for assistance in getting the Land Claim Commission to process the claim lodged in 1996.
“I started investigating but I got no clarity from the Commission. The (Land Claims) court eventually granted us an order declaring the claim as lodged and that it was not frivolous‚” Prinsloo said.
He said the commission defied the order. It was only after Prinsloo had threatened "another legal action that they started investigating the claim".
When the investigation was concluded in October 2012‚ they were called into a meeting for feedback on the findings. But Prinsloo said they were shocked when the official chairing the meeting started interrogating the claimants.
“I stopped the interrogation but the meeting ended in a hostile manner and the chief stormed out. (The commission) then issued a report declaring that the claim was frivolous on the basis that it had never been lodged‚” Prinsloo said.
Prinsloo went back to court in October (last year) and the commission was “lambasted for dishonesty‚” with the judge ordering that the claim be gazetted and also set a timeline for compliance.
The claim was finally gazetted in February for interested parties - like those with mortgages‚ Tshwane city council and Eskom - to make representations.
“Interested parties would have notified the commission by now and the commission is probably taking their interests into considering now. What lies ahead now is for the commission to release its final report‚” he said.
According to Prinsloo‚ if the commission finds the clan to be the rightful owners of the claimed properties‚ the matter will go for a mediation process for an amicable solution.
“Once a settlement is reached‚ whether in the form of compensation or land‚ the restitution would be deemed complete‚” he added.
Lekhuleni was buried on Saturday in Mamelodi.
A suspect was arrested last week but Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said charges of murder and hijacking were withdrawn against the 20-year-old suspect when he appeared in the Mamelodi west magistrates court on Friday.
RDM News Wire
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