The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) says it is disappointed by a SCA judgment rejecting arguments to appoint a special master to oversee land claims made by labour tenants. A News24 report says the case went on appeal to the SCA after the Land Claims Court ruled in December 2016 that a special master be appointed to expedite claims for portions of lands that labour tenants have worked and lived on.

The matter was brought to court in 2013 by the LRC and the Association for Rural Advancement (Afra) when Bhekindlela Mwelase and three other labour tenant claimants – who live on the Hilton College Estate in the KZN Midlands – approached Afra to provide support in getting their claim to land ownership settled.

‘It has taken many years for us to reach this point and we do not believe that justice has been reached,’ LRC lawyer Thabiso Mbhense said.

In the SCA ruling, the Land Reform Department was tasked with developing an implementation plan. The LRC said this plan, subject to approval by the Land Claims Court, had to include ‘the names of senior managers in the department responsible for the plan, the number of labour tenant applications lodged and those outstanding, the targets for processing claims, the budget required and the plan for co-ordinating adjudication and arbitration of claims’.

While it supported the development of the plan, the LRC remained concerned about the department's progress with land claims. The LRC said if the SCA accepted the request for a special master, it would have been an ‘historic moment’ as the first such appointment for the country. Mbhense said they would appeal the judgment in the Constitutional Court.

Full News24 report