ANNUAL
REPORT 2001
Summary
This report covers the period from January until the end
of December 2001 and aims to give an overview of the work
and development of Nkuzi during this period.
Nkuzi started the year with 18 staff members and by the
end of the year it had 23 full time staff members and 6
volunteers providing services throughout the Northern Province,
Gauteng Province, and in some northern parts of Mpumalanga.
The restitution work during this year involved direct work
with restitution projects on gathering baseline information
for the gazetting of land claims, verifying claimants for
each claim, setting up legal entities, and negotiating for
the settlement of claims. Nkuzi worked closely with the
Regional Land Claims Commission (RLCC) and the year ended
with the celebration of the transfer of land to its rightful
owners in the Getrudsberg case. This cooperation has benefited
considerably from the appointment of a Commissioner for
the Northern Province and the opening of an office for the
RLCC in Polokwane. Good progress has been made on other
claims, which have been gazetted and negotiations are at
an advanced stage leading Nkuzi to anticipate that they
will be finalized in 2002. Nkuzi successfully tendered with
the RLCC for the validation of land claims in the Northern
Province. Nkuzi has started work on this project after finalizing
a contract in November for the validation of 2,140 land
claims.
Under redistribution the government has bought the land
for the beneficiaries in a number of cases which had previously
been designated and people in those projects now have access
to land.
The Land Rights Legal Unit expanded to Modimolle (formerly
Nylstroom) where an office headed by an Attorney was opened
at the end of the year. In May the Nkuzi Legal Aid Clinic
was opened in Elim in terms of a cooperation agreement with
the Legal Aid Board. This has seen Nkuzi’s work taking
another dimension through the provision of legal services
on cases, for indigent rural people, which are not land
related. The expansion of the Nkuzi Land Rights Legal Unit
was informed by the overwhelming demand existing in the
remote rural areas of the Northern Province and the lack
of access to legal services.
Nkuzi work in Gauteng continued to focus on assisting farm
dwellers in securing their tenure rights and challenging
other abuses of human rights on farms around the Province.
Difficulties with getting legal assistance for farm dwellers
continued to be a problem. The Land Rights Legal Unit from
Polokwane tried to assist clients in Gauteng on some cases
when other options were not available, but this is not a
very practical solution given the distances and costs involved.
Nkuzi Farm Resident Support Programme in Northern Province
has managed to prevent numerous evictions and assisted farm
dwellers to assert their rights in other matters such as
burials. In both provinces farm dwellers were assisted to
make applications for settlements in terms of section 4
of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA). Unfortunately
the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) have not implemented
one such settlement in either province during 2001. In other
cases Nkuzi has assisted to get secure tenure off the farm
or to reach agreements with landowners to give farm dwellers
more security on the farms.
The Policy and Research Unit of Nkuzi completed several
reports including “What Future: Race through the eyes
of children on farms in South Africa” which was done
in preparation for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR).
Follow up reports were made on communal tenure in the Dikgale
area. Research was done for the South African Human Rights
Commission on human rights violations against people living
on farms in the Northern Province. A paper on giving long-term
tenure security to farm dwellers was written and presented
at the National Land Tenure Conference held in Durban.
This year has seen the birth of the Landless Peoples Movement
nationally composed of landless peoples organizations in
the nine provinces. The Northern Province Land Rights Coalition
was instrumental in the establishment of the Landless Peoples
Movement and has been an active participant in all its events.
This development is a first step to ensuring that the efforts
and activities of the landless people are well coordinated
nationally. Some of the activities that have taken place
include a landless people’s march and landless people’s
day in Durban. The Landless Peoples Movement also participated
in the National Land Tenure Conference held in November
and had several opportunities during these events to engage
directly with the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs.
Provincially the focus has been on building organization
at a district and local level. The annual provincial conference
was held and one of the highlights was an input by a delegate
from Movemento Sem Terra (MST) in Brazil
Management
and Staffing
A Comprehensive impact assessment exercise was carried out
during the first half of the year by consultants from three
organizations namely Community Development Resource Association
(CDRA), Akanani Rural Development Association and the Association
for Rural Advancement (AFRA). The evaluation process was
aimed at assessing the impact Nkuzi has made over the previous
three years. The report titled “Between Activism and
Professionalism: Finding the Balance.” identified areas
for improvement in the way Nkuzi works, but found overall
that Nkuzi had made a remarkable impact in its’ few
years of operation and had at the same time managed to put
in place the necessary management and administration systems
to sustain the organization. The impact assessment of Nkuzi
was followed by a strategic planning session, which focused
on redefining the vision, mission and the values of the
organization.
3.Words
From The ChairPerson
Providing
leadership to a growing organization such as Nkuzi Development
Association is both challenging and also fulfilling. When
I took over as a Chairperson I committed myself to two things,
one was to ensure that the governing structure of Nkuzi
provides clear strategic vision for the organization and
support to the staff, secondly to ensure that Nkuzi is on
the right track to fulfill its vision. This vision is to
enable and support marginalized rural and peri-urban communities
in exercising their land and related rights. The aim of
this is to facilitate the acquisition of land and its productive
and sustainable use.
We
are holding this Annual General Meeting during a very interesting
year. This is an interesting year because in August-September
South Africa will be hosting the World Summit on Sustainable
Development. The entire world will be gathered in Johannesburg
to recommit itself to sustainable development. It is through
organizations like Nkuzi that the resolutions taken during
the World Summit on Sustainable Development shall get implemented.
I am proud to be associated with an organization that is
not only advocating for sustainable development in its mission
statement, but implements it in its development practice.
It is important that when farmers engage in farming they
don’t destroy the fertility of the soil since future
generations are going to depend on the same land for survival.
While
working towards ensuring that marginalized communities access
and exercise their land rights Nkuzi found it imperative
to expand the service of the legal unit. The opening of
the Legal Aid Clinic in Elim and another legal office in
Nylstroom has ensured that communities in rural areas gain
access to legal representation. The provision of legal representation
is a practical way of protecting rural communities rights
especially farm workers, whose rights are constantly under
threat.
Since
the appointment of the Regional Land Claims Commissioner
for the Northern Province there has been an improvement
in the settlement of claims and Nkuzi is confident about
the prospect of finalizing further land claims in future.
However, the slow pace of land reform remains a cause for
concern. There seems to be new zeal and commitment towards
ensuring that the restitution process is expedited, but
the verbal commitment should be accompanied by sufficient
budgets for land reform to be effectively delivered. The
government must also finalize policies with regard to tenure
in communal areas and put in place a comprehensive policy
on redistribution that will ensure that the imbalances in
land ownership patterns in the country are fully addressed.
We
acknowledge that land reform is a very difficult area of
work and in order for it to succeed government needs the
support of all stakeholders. At the same time we cannot
ignore the frustrations experienced by the communities we
work with. Nkuzi will continue to express problems where
they exist and strive towards finding solutions with government
and other stakeholders. It is also good that communities
are beginning to organize themselves so that they can engage
with all stakeholders in land reform from a position of
power.
The
Board is committed to ensure that Nkuzi remains one of the
strongest NGOs in the Northern Province. In the last year
members of the board attended a strategic planning session
which discussed the vision and the mission of the organization.
Three new members joined the Board of Directors of Nkuzi
and we welcome their willingness to contribute to the growth
of the organization. The dedication and contribution of
the Board Members to the work of the organization is something
that I truly appreciate.
Lastly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
all the staff members of Nkuzi, including the volunteers,
for the sterling performance of their responsibilities.
I wish specifically to thank the Directorate for the provision
of good leadership and ensuring that the organization has
the necessary resources to implement its programmes. The
Board of Nkuzi is proud to be associated with an organization
that is contributing towards the positive transformation
of our country and we trust that it will grow from strength
to strength.
Chairperson:Tanya
Mungulwa
Additional Board Members:
Chris Mamabolo, Elleck Nchabeleng, Glynn Mohlabi, Joyce
Seema, Marc Wegerif, Max Rambau, Miyilani Nkatingi, Nelson
Muvhale, Theresa Sehlapelo, Tidimalo Chuene.
Reformation
in SA 
