This year marks 27 years of freedom and democracy, and 20 years of a democratic local government in South Africa respectively. Against this backdrop, in 2019, the country’s rural population (% of the total population) stood at 33.14 %, according to the World Bank.
Government grants persons in these rural areas Permission to Occupy (PTO) land mostly under the custodianship of traditional leadership, this is not a title deed and does not transfer ownership. In the midst of these, the need to fast track the land reform project which seeks to address the results of land dispossession of the black majority has become urgent.
As the country commemorates March as Human Rights Month and recently the 21st as Human Rights Day amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the land issue as a human right should still be at the fore. As things stand, the amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution is one of the speed humps that the government has to go over in order to expropriate land without compensation for redistribution purposes.
It was Jamaican-born black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, Marcus Garvey who once said: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture, is like a tree without roots.” In relation to knowledge of one’s history and origin, land dispossession and forced removals usually result in the disturbance of people’s culture and heritage, by implication their human rights.
After all, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) view on protecting heritage is that it “constitutes a source of identity and cohesion for communities disrupted by bewildering change and economic instability.”
Garvey’s words reminded one of the history of the Maubane folks from Mokgolopo clan and others’ 1964 forced removal from nearby the ‘beacon’ situated on the north-eastern part of Waterplaats 710 LS, officially called Mapeding village, Ga-Mashashane.
The Mashashane tribal area is located under the Polokwane Municipality, Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province and is now under the custodianship of Inkxosi Magandangele II Mashashane. Dominant languages spoken in the area, which comprises no less than 38 villages are Northern Sotho, Northern Ndebele and XiTsonga.
The Mokgolopo clan was apparently the first one to be moved by the apartheid regime to the present day Mohlonong village, on the southern part of the beacon and a stone throw away from the Mashashane Police station, taxi rank and the show grounds.
The Mohlonong village was seemingly named after a tree called ‘mohlono’ in Northern Sotho or ‘Scolopia mundii’ from the ‘Salicaceae’ botanical family. Indeed, when I was growing up at Stand number 124, the trees used to be in abundance around the village, with prominent ones on the edge of the mealie fields on the junction to Glenroy village. These trees have however almost become extinct due to a combination of ageing and being chopped for firewood among others.
Though the 1964 removal of my tribe and others might have had to do with the pursuit for organised settlements including having proper streets, it has evidently left scars on my people. During various conversations with my brother, Mashabela, he often narrates the story of the pain endured by my tribe during these removals as passed to him through oral history by our late paternal grandfather and his namesake, colloquially called “Phooko ‘a dinaka”.
Two of our cattle supposedly remain unaccounted for from those forced and hurried removals. My brother mentions that the story resulted in his attempt to join the armed struggle in the mid-80s, in order to fight such injustices wherein he ended up briefly joining the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) 116 Battalion.
Keen crop and livestock farmers, my forebears had apparently often lamented that they were moved away from more arable land to a rocky one. Even with their less favourable situation, my paternal grandfather, his brothers Nwee and Mokotama, my father and his brothers, including their wives and their children, would, without fail, till mealie fields located in the vicinity of “Phiri ‘a dipekwa" on the north-western part of “Magolobitla” stream for sustenance.
As the land ownership question continued for my folks, before settling alongside the beacon on the north-eastern side of Mapeding village, my great grandfather and the clan can apparently be traced back to ‘Thabaneng ya dinoko’ during the Anglo Boer war (1899-1902).
This is an area located around what is now Ga-Magongwa, Lepotlako and Waschbank villages under Maraba traditional authority, along the Matlala D19 road.
As I pieced together the story around land ownership and heritage, my late grand-uncle, Thupetji, helped in retracing some of my folks, Bakgatla-ba-Mocha to Bosplaas, Hammanskraal under the Chieftainship of Alfred Maubane. This is consistent with the 1905 document titled Short history of the Native tribes of the Transvaal compiled by the Transvaal Native Affairs Department.
Back to Ga-Mashashane, if you have never visited the area, traditional call-and-response artist Johannes Mohlala and His Harp pleads to be taken to this place on your behalf in the song, ‘Koring Ga-Mashashane’ on the 2006 Legalana Number 2 album. Late activist, trombonist and jazz artist Jonas Gwangwa also pays tribute to the area through his trombone on the 1999 A Temporary Inconvenience album. I can also attest to the presence of plenty of the Magongwas in Ga-Mashashane as depicted in the SABC 1 drama Skeem Saam.
The area is not only about the clanking noise of cowbells, bleating sounds of goats, sheep and the barking dogs at sunrise, sunset or at all times of the day. It has limitless tourism and agriculture potential which can be a catalyst towards meaningful rural economic development. This can be tapped into through multi-stakeholder efforts as we go back to embracing the spirit of ‘Letšema’.
Some of the touchpoints that one can count are the Mashashane dam in Utjane, where there is already some fishing and camping activities, Mogwadi river, the picturesque Ngopane, Ramahute and Matlaleng hills where one can enjoy hiking and rock climbing. The Mashashane tribal authority can also use the area’s location which is less than 35km from two of Limpopo’s major towns, Polokwane and Mokopane as a unique selling proposition towards developmental advantage.
As the country celebrates 20 years of a democratic local government amid some service delivery backlogs, there are evident strides made in terms of development in the Mashashane area. These include electrification and improvement of road infrastructure among others, making going to my “father’s house” a breeze these days.
As he was delivering the 2021 Budget, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni outlined that “Government plans to finalise 1 409 restitution claims at a cost of R9.3 billion over the next three years to achieve redress and equitable access to land. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has also set aside R896.7 million for post-settlement support.
This will include the recruitment of approximately 10 000 experienced extension officers. If accompanied by appropriate monitoring and evaluation including proper project management, the above plans should set the country, especially the rural areas on an upward developmental trajectory.
Development of the local economy and rural areas towards poverty alleviation is within reach. Though the role and relevance of traditional leadership in a Constitutional democracy is questioned by several scholars, analysts and commentators, as custodians of rural land under their area of jurisdiction, the Mashashane traditional leadership has an opportunity to play a central role in the realisation of this right to a developed environment and upholding citizens’ dignity. After all, land ownership and human rights are inseparable twins.
* Maubane is the director of Oo Mokgatla Media and a former president of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA). He writes in his capacity as a Native of Mohlonong village, Ga-Mashashane.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.