Some of the land belongs to Moloto Communal Property Association photos supplied
By Moloto Communal Property Association (CPA)
A grave injustice is unfolding in the Moloto Community land claim case (LCC 204/2010), exposing a catastrophic failure by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Department he leads to uphold the rule of law, implement land restitution policy, and honour the historical principles of the liberation struggle.
On February 11, 2022, the Land Claims Court of South Africa issued a clear and binding order directing the Minister to acquire specific properties for the benefit of the Moloto Community and to pay fair compensation to the landowners, in accordance with Sections 35(1)(a) and 42A of the Restitution of Land Rights Act No 22 of 1994.
This order was the culmination of a long and arduous legal battle by a historically disadvantaged community seeking redress for past dispossession.
Shockingly, barely seven months later, in September 2022, the very same Department advertised the identical land for lease as “state land” in Jakkalsdans, Gauteng.
This advertisement directly contradicts and defies the court’s directive.
We are compelled to highlight the following profound failures:
1.CONTEMPT FOR THE RULE OF LAW
The Minister’s action constitutes a direct assault on the authority and legitimacy of the judiciary.
By permitting his department to advertise for lease the very land the Court ordered him to acquire for the Moloto Community, the Minister has demonstrated a flagrant disregard for the rule of law.
If a court order can be so brazenly ignored by those sworn to uphold the Constitution, what hope remains for any vulnerable community seeking justice?
2.SABOTAGE OF LAND RESTITUTION POLICY
The Restitution of Land Rights Act was enacted specifically to heal the wounds of historical dispossession.
The Department’s conduct in this matter represents not merely a failure to implement policy but an active obstruction of it.
Instead of facilitating restitution, the Minister’s Department is perpetuating the very disempowerment the law was designed to reverse.
3.GROSS ADMINISTRATIVE INCOMPETENCE OR DELIBERATE OBSTRUCTION
Either this situation arose from catastrophic administrative failure within the Department,for which the Minister bears ultimate responsibility,or it represents a deliberate act to deny the Moloto Community their legally entitled land.
Both possibilities are unacceptable.
The mismanagement of public funds, the waste of taxpayer resources on legal processes that are then ignored, and the erosion of public trust demand immediate answers and accountability.
4.A PROFOUND IDEOLOGICAL BETRAYAL
This betrayal cuts deepest when viewed through the lens of history.
The Minister leads a department whose mandate is land reform.
More significantly, he comes from a political tradition rooted in the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), a liberation movement whose very identity was forged in the crucible of land dispossession, whose rallying cry “MAYIBUYE IAFRIKA!” echoed the desperate longing of millions for the return of their land.
For a leader emerging from that tradition to now preside over a department that actively obstructs court-ordered land restitution to a vulnerable black community is not merely a policy failure,it is a complete abandonment of the ideological struggle that defined his political origins.
It confirms the bitter suspicion of many that we are witnessing a “same script, different cast” phenomenon, where new leaders, once in power, replicate the very injustices they were elected to dismantle.
5.ABANDONMENT OF THE VULNERABLE
The Moloto Community, like countless others seeking land restitution, represents those for whom the liberation struggle was fought.
The Minister’s actions send a devastating message that the law which ought to protect the vulnerable can be weaponized against them by those who once promised to be their shield.
OUR DEMANDS
We therefore call upon:
The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform to immediately cease any leasing activities on the subject land, to issue a public explanation for this grave failure, and to comply fully and urgently with the court order of February 11, 2022.
·The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development to institute urgent oversight hearings into this matter and hold the Minister accountable for his Department’s defiance of a court order.
·The Judicial Commission on Land Reform investigates systemic failures within the department that allow court orders to be ignored with impunity.
·All civil society organisations, land rights activists, and South Africans who cherish the rule of law to stand in solidarity with the Moloto Community and demand that justice be done.
CONCLUSION
The Moloto Community has waited long enough.
The courts have spoken.
The law is clear.
What remains absent is the political will to do what is right.
The Minister cannot claim to stand on the shoulders of giants who fought for land restitution while simultaneously trampling on the rights of those very communities.
History will not judge kindly those who, when given the power to right the wrongs of the past, chose instead to repeat them.
“MAYIBUYE IAFRICA!” must not become a hollow slogan.
It must be a living commitment, honored in action, not betrayed in deed.
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