(Photo: Facebook)
The Special Investigation Unit (SUE) found that there were no irregularities in the handling of the Orania land claim that warranted further action.
This follows a presentation on Wednesday to the parliamentary portfolio committee on land reform and rural development about investigations into land restitution matters.
According to dr. Wynand Boshoff, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson on land reform and rural development, related the investigation to a land claim by former residents of Orania who had to move in 1991 after the then department of water affairs sold the land.
“Although the approximately 90 claimants never owned land in Orania, they argued that their relocation does meet the requirements for restitution,” said Boshoff.
He says the claim was settled with financial compensation at the time and was then referred to the SOE to determine whether the process went regularly.
“The SOE found that there were no irregularities in its handling that warrant further action.”
The SOE report is part of wider investigations carried out between 2011 and 2017 in terms of various proclamations. According to Boshoff, these investigations led to more than R654 million worth of transactions and administrative decisions being set aside or declared invalid.
Joost Strydom, the chief executive of the Orania Movement, said residents and institutions of Orania received the finding with “gratitude, but not surprise”.
Joost Strydom of the Orania Movement. (Photo: Provided)
“Any fabricated uncertainty incited by radical political actors has now been finally dispelled,” he said.
Strydom says at the time the state made short-term rental properties available to workers from the Orange River Project’s dam and canal developments.
“Research clearly indicates that none of the workers ever owned the homes where they stayed temporarily. They rented them from the state for the duration of the project, and some even illegally occupied some of the properties,” says Strydom.
The state decided to settle with the former residents and pay out an amount of R2 922 240 to the families. That amount is drastically more than the market value of the entire total value of Orania, which was earlier sold on the open market for approximately R1 500 000.
Boshoff said the FF Plus trusts that from now on the focus will instead fall on shortcomings in the department of land reform. He described Orania as “an example of communal land ownership and community-driven economic development”.