PREGA GOVENDER

10 April 2005

PROPERTY owners on two exclusive wildlife estates are up in arms over a developer’s proposal that they pay R2.7-million to settle land claims.

The 360 people who own properties in Welverdiend and Raptor’s View in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, have been told to each pay a one-off "levy" of R7500 in exchange for the claims being dropped.

They were told that R1.4-million of the R2.7-million would go towards legal fees, and that the rest, R1.3-million, would go to developer Trevor Jordan to compensate him for giving 25ha to the claimants.

The 25ha will be rezoned to commercial use and sold to benefit the 102 members of the Northern Sotho Moletele community. In the 1970s the Moletele were forcibly removed from their land in the Raptor’s View and Welverdiend areas.

The settlement agreement was reached between Jordan, who owns most of the land at Welverdiend and who developed both estates, and Mperekeng Chiloane, who was elected in 1995 to represent the Moletele community in their land claims.

In February a meeting of property owners voted 158 to 98 to reject Jordan’s proposed settlement. But, say opponents, Jordan bulldozed the agreement through by using the 304 votes he holds.

Johannesburg property developer Stephan Kemp, who has a house in Raptor’s View, said the owners had been told that properties on the estate were "unsaleable and unmarketable" because of the claims.

"The settlement agreement was concluded without the homeowners’ consent," Kemp said. "If we pay that R7500, it could be seen as a bribe. It’s highly irregular to pay people off on a land claims issue."

Jordan’s settlement also proposes that:

• Owners pay a 10% surcharge on their monthly levies for generations to come to fund upliftment programmes for the Moletele. This currently translates to between R44 and R60 a month; and

• Owners pay 1% of their selling prices to the claimants’ trust fund.

Limpopo land claims commissioner Mashile Mokono told Jordan in a letter that land claims were made against the state and it was not expected by law for landowners to offer compensation to claimants. "If any landowner is forced to do so, it will be seen as highly irregular and illegal," Mokono said.

The commission, he added, was not satisfied that "those claimants who entered into the agreement on behalf of the community were duly authorised to do so".

Mokono told the Sunday Times that the commission had not been involved in the settlement. "Home owners are shocked. It’s tantamount to buying the claim off."

Chiloane said the claimants were happy with the agreement.

Jordan said it was an "embarrassment that people are arguing about R7500". "It’s not only a contribution to freeing up the land, but will add to the community’s prosperity." He added that he made the settlement offer to avoid a drawn-out legal process.

Jordan said that, as the developer, he still had a controlling vote, and was legally bound to deliver "unencumbered land" to the new owners.