The Ncora community will regain ownership of ancestral land, restoring rights lost under apartheid-era laws and advancing South Africa’s land restitution programme.
The Ncora community in Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, is set to receive title deeds restoring ownership of land lost through racially discriminatory laws and policies implemented during apartheid.
Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso will officially hand over the title deed to the community on 31 July at the Ncora Irrigation Scheme, marking a significant milestone in the restoration of land rights.
According to the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development, the community lost its land rights through the implementation of the Betterment Policy, which reduced indigenous land ownership to “Permission to Occupy” status.
The dispossession took place between 1964 and 1972 through the implementation of the Native Trust and Land Act of 1936, reinforcing the objectives of the 1913 Land Act that systematically removed Black South Africans from their land.
The construction of the Ncora Irrigation Scheme in 1972 displaced villages from their homes and farmland to make way for canals, dairy parlours, underground pipelines, silos, factories, administration buildings and staff accommodation.
Following a successful land claim through the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, community beneficiaries chose the restoration of their land rights as their preferred form of redress.
The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development said the title deed handover coincides with South Africa’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Constitution and reflects the country’s ongoing commitment to restoring justice and dignity.
“Rooted in the transformative vision of the Constitution, the Land Restitution Programme remains one of the South African Government’s most enduring nation-building initiatives, through the restoration of land rights and dignity to individuals and communities dispossessed under racially discriminatory laws,” the department said.
Minister Nyhontso will be joined by provincial leaders, executive mayors, traditional leaders and senior government officials at the official handover ceremony in Cofimvaba.
