Durban - The rate at which land claims are being processed is frustrating claimants because there is no indication how long it will take.
Robin Naidoo, a father of four, has been renting a home in Phoenix since he was dispossessed of his family land in the Randworth Park industrial area, Redhill, in 1977.
Naidoo said his attempts to get his land back were thwarted by the eThekwini Municipality’s demand for its current market value.
“We were evicted in 1977 by the apartheid government. They used North Coast Road as a dividing line. They moved us to the west and the north-west which included Phoenix, already demarcated as an Indian area at the time.
“When we were removed by the Durban City Council, we were paid R12 000. The current council now says it wants the market value for the land.
“Why would it want to profit from apartheid laws? Why is it that we can’t get our land back after more than 20 years of lodging the claims?
“My erf number, 140 Legacy Road, had since been leased to unknown people by the city and my attempts to have this issue resolved has been stifled for many years now,” Naidoo said.
He said he had taken his claim to the Pietermaritzburg land claims commission, with no resolution reached.
“I met a number of people at Durban’s land claims office on Friday, April 29, 2011. Since then I have not received communication from the city’s real estate department. All I got from the government’s organs was that the city wanted more money for the land.
“To me this means that it (the city) wants to benefit unduly from apartheid and racism by claiming current market value when the municipality received our land for free from the Durban City Council in 1994.
“Will President Cyril Ramaphosa now expropriate our claimed land, without compensation, from eThekwini Municipality and return it soon?” he asked.
Another claimant, Wilson Harrinarrain, said he had not heard from the city or the commission in two years.
Harrinarrain said he was removed in 1980 from his family land and had since moved to Richards Bay.
“I was still young and with foster parents. I never had a council house and I don’t want money. I want my parents’ land back so that I can build a home for my family. This is frustrating because it has been many years since I lodged the claim and there has not been feedback from the authorities,” he said.
Nokuzola Ndlela, the commission’s spokesperson, said: “Cases lodged prior to 1998 are being dealt with however complex they might be.
“For example, there are people who lodged claims on the land where The Pavilion shopping centre is and we are still looking for alternative land for those claimants.
“The commission is investigating the merits of all the claims and claimants are informed about progress at regular intervals or upon request.”
She said she needed to get more information from the files before commenting extensively on the claims in question.
In May last year, Independent Online reported that 14 000 new land claims had been registered in eThekwini Metro - the highest number in KwaZulu-Natal.
The city had not responded to questions at the time of publication.