The Land Claims Court claims the ‘countless failures’ of the Commission of Land Restitution to timeously process land claims had led to ‘justice being denied’ for some claimants. The Mercury reports the court – in a scathing judgment – said the commission’s failure to carry out its obligations due to ‘insufficient funding, delays, procrastination and inefficiency’ were a ‘stark example of justice delayed causing justice to be denied’.

In the recent judgment, the court said thousands of claims were lodged after the claims process was opened after 1994, but many claims had yet to be processed. ‘Thousands of claimants have gone to their graves without having seen the fulfilment of the hope the Constitution created by the establishment of the right to restitution.’ The Land Claims Court, which was dealing with a matter where new claims were made against Camperdown farming land where old claims had already been lodged, said the 2014 claims process posed huge challenges in a situation where the Land Claims Commission was already battling to deal with old claims.

The court said it was saddled with a problem of what to do with cases related to old claims which were affected by new claims. It added that due to the Land Claims Commission being interdicted by the Constitutional Court from dealing with new claims, it would also be unable to deal with new claims in any fashion without the commission’s assistance. The court found that the Constitutional Court ruling preserved the priority that should be given to the finalisation of old land claims. It ruled that it would not deal with any claims made after 2014 and new claimants would only be part of the court proceedings regarding old claims to the extent that they may help court to establish whether old claimants have valid claims or not.

Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)