Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza said the Land Claims Commission would require R65bn to settle outstanding claims that were lodged by December 1998.

According to a Cape Times report, Didiza said the Land Claims Commission reported to the Land Claims Court (LCC) at six-month intervals regarding the settlement of outstanding old order claims.

‘This progress includes the backlog reduction strategy, the budget allocations and referral of cases to the LCC. The report does not include a specific date envisaged for finalisation of the outstanding claims as there are outstanding processes that require approval from dependencies which are outside the control of the commission or the department,’ she said.

Land Claims Commissioner, Nomfundo Ntloko, however, said in her report to the LCC there were 6 571 outstanding claims from April to November 2022.

‘The commission settled 114 claims, from 6 685 claims settled at the end of March 2022 to 6 571 claims settled in the last six months. This is an indication that the commission is increasing the pace of settling land claims,’ Ntloko said.

KZN has the largest number, at 2 095, followed by Mpumalanga with 1 565 and Limpopo with 1 335. The Eastern Cape has a backlog of 643 outstanding claims. The Western Cape has 319 outstanding claims, the Free State has five claims, Gauteng 365, North West 207 and Northern Cape 36.

Full Cape Times report