Government says law prevents land rights being handed over

The community is fighting for restitution of the land, which they were forced off in the 1920s, and which is now held by state-owned miner Alexkor, mineral rights and R2.5bn in compensation for the diamonds extracted and mining-related environmental damage. At the heart of litigation in Cape Town, reports the Mail & Guardian Online, is whether the court can order the return of mining rights under the Land Restitution Act, or whether these fall within the jurisdiction of the Minerals and Energy Minister, in terms of the 2002 Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which vests all mineral rights in the government. The government says ‘as long as the old-order mining right is in existence, the minister is not empowered to grant any right to the plaintiff’. This position changes only if the Richtersveld community has ‘a bona fide mining partner’ and if Alexkor renounces its old-order mining rights. Then the community could apply for preferential rights. However, Advocate for the Richtersvelders, Wim Trengove, maintained full restitution was possible without compromising either law: ‘We do not accept the proposition, this court is denuded of any power and needs to ask the minister.’ Full report in Mail & Guardian Online (Subscription required)

It would cost more than R1bn to rehabilitate the land under Alexcor’s control to its pristine condition, the court was told yesterday by environmental expert Tony Barbour, of UCT. It also heard, according to a Mail & Guardian Online report, the decision to press a land claim was taken by the whole Richtersveld community and not just a section of it. Dr Susanne Berzborn, an anthropologist from Germany\'s Cologne University, told the court: ‘The Richtersveld community as a whole took this decision.’ Full report in the Mail & Guardian Online