The SCA has reserved judgment on an appeal bid relating to a land dispute between two Eastern Cape groupings, which raises key issues on what constitutes a 'community', and the challenges in unpacking historical accounts of land dispossession between competing claimants.

GroundUp reports that the SCA heard the application for leave to appeal a Land Claims Court decision awarding a majority of a portion of land in the Eastern Cape to the Prudhoe community.

The other community claiming the land, the AmaZizi community, was awarded only what used to be the Jaji, Dabi and Msuthu tribal areas as well as the Heaton farm.

The court found that the Prudhoe community met the requirements for a community, as they were descendants of the AmaGqunukwhebe chiefdom, who continued to live alongside white farmers in a hybrid system. The court said this community continued to exist until this day and was distinct from the AmaZizi community.

The AmaZizi community appealed this decision.

Both communities had claimed ownership to the land in question.

GroundUp says the initial dispute centres around what constitutes a community, whether they were dispossessed of these land rights as a result of racially discriminatory practices after 19 June 1913, and whether they received just and equitable compensation.

In this case, both communities derive from amaXhosa tribes or clans which were involved in various wars and disputes with the British Empire in the 19th century in what is today the Eastern Cape.

Each community is relying on a different interpretation of the colonial and apartheid history regarding dispossession of the land in question.

The interpretation of this history affects the question of whether they meet the requirements for a 'community' and if so whether they were dispossessed of their land rights as required by the law.

Full GroundUp report