Tired of 27 years of empty promises, disgruntled villagers at Lower Zingcuka outside Keiskammahoek have vowed to continue blockading access to the village with burning tyres until millions of rand in unpaid land claims reflect in their bank accounts.
This is despite efforts by land reform minister Mzwanele Nyhontso, who visited the village on Wednesday afternoon, to ease tensions.
From Wednesday morning, more than 100 villagers used burning tyres to blockade the road along the Sandile Dam, an entry point to nine villages which connect to Middledrift.
Demonstrations continued throughout Thursday amid a heavy police presence.
The claims arose after people lost their homes to make way for the Sandile Dam in the 1980s.
Community committee leader Masibulele Matshoba said they were tired of “continued lies”.
He said Nyhontso’s recent statement in parliament that some village households had received payments had fuelled tensions.
“The minister told parliament more than 30 householders had received their payouts.
“This is news to us because in the last communication we had with the department it said our money would reflect [in our bank accounts] within 90 days after the elections [in May 2024].
“They came back and said we must go to verify our credentials and title deeds at the Land Claims office in Beacon Bay.
“No-one has received money here and people are dying and it’s been 27 years now we’ve been fed the same promises.”
In October, the minister said on the record that financial compensation to the village beneficiaries would be paid before the end of December.
Answering questions in parliament, Nyhontso said 33 families had already received the payouts.
However, during his visit on Wednesday, he told the disgruntled crowd he relied on the information he was given.
He said he had only recently discovered there were tensions.
“Your issue today is you say no-one has been paid — I hear you,” he said.
“I must say the question came to me while in parliament and I asked people in my department for information about what is happening here.
“I was given the number, hence I said it in parliament based on the information I had received.
“I know some areas in Dutywa received their payouts, but I thank you for raising this issue with me.”
An elderly resident told Nyhontso: “We have given everything that has been required of us.
“We even showed you where our houses were. My only plea is to stop fooling people, people are tired.”
Nyhontso could not be reached for comment.
He is not the first minister to make promises to the residents.
His predecessor, Thoko Didiza, while answering questions from EFF MP Nthako Matiase in 2023, said the first payment batch, covering 88 households with 544 beneficiaries at Lower Zingcuka, was in process and payments were expected by April and May 2024.
This led to demonstrations by angry villagers during the May general elections, during which more than 300 special voters were barred from entering the voting station in protest.
In the 1980s, villagers at Lower Zingcuka were moved from the site where the Sandile Dam was to be built and relocated a few kilometres away in what are now Upper and Lower Ngqumeya.
A land claim was lodged in 1998. Each family stood to get up to R522,000 in cash when the land claims money was paid out.
Residents of the neighbouring villages of Lower Gxulu, Upper Gxulu, Upper Mnyameni, Lower Mnyameni, Upper Ngqumeya, Gwili-Gwili, Ndlovini, Ngobozana and Mthwaku were awarded a R102m settlement after a successful land claim in 2002.
Some R47m of this was financial compensation to 1,704 families who had been dispossessed of their homes under apartheid’s “betterment programme” in the 1960s.
At the time of settlement, it was agreed each claimant family should receive part of the compensation — R27,782 each in cash.
Regional Land Claims Commission chief director Zama Memela is expected to meet the community on Monday.
Matshoba said they would continue demonstrating until then.
“The minister said he will bring his team here on Monday, including Mr Memela who we have dealt with before.
“They have asked us to stop protesting, but we will continue and wait for them.”
DispatchLIVE
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