Land Claims Court Judge Jane Cowen has highlighted the quagmire faced by labour tenants whose applications are held up in the government’s bureaucracy.

A Business Day report says the Sindane family is facing eviction after losing their battle with mining group Exxaro to stay on the land they have called home for 60 years.

Exxaro was granted the mining right in 2013, and identified the Sindane family and 31 other families for resettlement as they will be exposed to blasting and ancillary mining activities which pose a danger to their health and safety.

Exxaro subsequently built what is known as Phumulani Agri-Village which is made up of 246ha of residential land and a 166ha agricultural site.

The families relocated in 2019, with only the Sindane family refusing to relocate. The Legal Resources Centre represented the affected families.

Exxaro told the court that the Sindane family patriarch, Frans, signed the resettlement agreement in 2014 in the presence of witnesses. 

The Business Day report notes his family members said they could not move because Frans subsequently launched a land claim application under the auspices of the Labour Tenants Act. They stated the claim has not been processed to date.

‘This feature of the case brings into focus the potential impact of delays in realising the Constitution’s promise of land justice, in this case, to persons who may enjoy the rights of labour tenants, whose land tenure was rendered insecure as a result of racially discriminatory laws and practices over decades,’ observed Cowen.

‘If one postulates what might have been for the Sindane family had Frans Sindane’s application been timeously processed and the affected part of the claimed property awarded, their position may well look different today. Most pertinently, when the mining right was processed and granted in 2013, any dealings under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act would have had to ensue with Mr Sindane as owner. Indeed, ownership may then have vested in the Sindane family and not only Mr Sindane.’

However, Cowen said the resettlement agreement signed by Frans was valid and ordered the family to vacate the property by no later than the end of January 2024, says the Business Day report.

‘I have reached this conclusion mindful that the Sindane family has resided in their homestead for decades and consider it their home. I have mentioned above the impact of delays in finalising labour tenancy applications. I am mindful that these delays are not the fault of the Sindane family, and they are rightly aggrieved,’ she said in her judgment.

‘Nothing in this order prejudices the rights of any member of the Sindane family to pursue any rights they may enjoy as a result of their status as labour tenants or the application lodged by the late Mr Frans Sindane in terms of section 16 of the Labour Tenants Act.’

Full Business Day report

Judgment