Victory for property rights: AfriBusiness’ campaign against Pretoria East land claim succeeds

10 December 2015

A victory for property rights! This was the reaction of Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, CEO of AfriBusiness, after the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform deregistered the land claim of Mr Victor Lekhuleni.

Early in January 2015, people from Pretoria were confronted with an enormous land claim that included large parts of Pretoria East, Derdepoort and Cullinan. Had this land claim succeeded, thousands of people’s property rights and property value would have been affected negatively, and the economy of Pretoria would have been dealt a hefty blow.

Research by AfriBusiness clearly indicated that the land claim had been unsubstantiated. Subsequently, both AfriBusiness and AfriForum initiated legal proceedings in September this year on behalf of 800 business people and property owners in a bid to nip the claim in the bud. AfriBusiness applied to the Land Claims Court to have the claim set aside because it had been entirely flawed. The organisation also had to warn the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to file their replies on AfriBusiness’ court papers.  

According to the government gazette of 27 November 2015 (number 39458), the land claim has now been rejected formally. The gazette publication is probably the direct result of the pressure that AfriBusiness applied to the department. 

According to Jansen van Rensburg, the land claim would have succeeded if there had been no public objection. “If we hadn’t stood our ground, potentially billions of taxpayer money would have had to be paid over to the Lekhuleni community. This underlines the role and impact of organised civil institutions which campaign for business and civil rights.”

Although the Zwavelpoort land claim is still pending, AfriBusiness will continue to protect the rights of property owners in these and other cases.

Issued by Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, CEO, AfriBusiness, 10 December 2015