Pretoria - The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has paid almost R1 billion in financial compensation to land claimants in the last financial year.
According to department’s media liaison officer, Mtobeli Mxotwa, the department paid more than R993 million to people who lodged land claims between 1994 and 31 December 1998.
He said there were 602 restitution claims settled during the financial year, starting 1 April last year and ending 31 March this year.
Mxotwa said the highest claim paid was R93 million to a community in Siphaqeni, in Flagstaff, in the Eastern Cape. Individual claimants received an average of R54 000 in compensation.
Land claimants had the options of seeking restoration of their own land, alternative land or financial compensation.
The claims related to 195 967 hectares in the country's nine provinces. In the Western Cape 198 claims were settled, and more than R44 million was paid to beneficiaries.
In Gauteng, 118 claims were settled and more than R27 million was paid out, while in Limpopo 105 claims were settled and more than R151 million was paid.
In KwaZulu-Natal, 61 claims were settled and more than R192 million paid, while more than R249 million was paid relating to 53 land claims in the Eastern Cape.
Mpumalanga's 47 settled claims led to just less than R60 million being paid out.
In the North West, 12 claims were settled and claimants were compensated more than R50 million.
In the Free State, five settled claims, which gave rise to nearly R78 million being paid, while the Northern Cape paid more than R92 million arising from three land claims.
The land claim process is aimed at providing compensation for communities forcibly removed from their land by the colonial and apartheid governments between 1913 and 1994.
Most cases families used the financial compensation to improve their living conditions by sending their children to school and improving their houses. - SAnews.gov.za
