The #Khomani and Mier Land Claim

The new political situation in South Africa and the encounter of the //Sa! Makai with Cait Andrews and Roger Chennels in Kagga Kamma cleared the way for the initiation of the

#Khomani Land Claim in 1995. The claim contained the demand for land within the park as well as for neighbouring land, in an area under the administration of the Mier Transitional Local Councils (TLC). In December 1998, shortly before the deadline for land claims, the Mier TLC also filed a land claim for an area inside the park. Hence, both parties claimed the same area within the park. Combined with the already decade-old conflict-laden relationship between the two groups, this increased tensions and hostilities even further. (cf. Ellis 2003:

16) William Ellis, a leading social-anthropologist at the University of Western Cape, who had already been involved in the research in the run-up to the land claim, describes the situation regarding the Mier TLC Land Claim as follows:

“The Mier land claim is in direct response to the San land claim! The San logic claim for land, not only inside the park, they claim nearly 500 000 ha in the park, but they also claimed a significant section of the, just below the southern boundary of the park. This other section actually belongs to the Mier municipality and the Mier realised that: they are claiming part of our land. When the Mier realised that they started constructing their own claim. They started gathering the evidence for submission of their own claim. In fact, their claim is submitted at the last minute, the last day, December 31., 1998 at 12 o’clock they submit their claim to the government. Last minute!” (Interview Ellis 2005)

The first phase of land restitution to the #Khomani was successfully finalised in 1999. At a large ceremony on 31 March 1999 six farms outside the then Kalahari Gemsbok National Park were handed over to their new rightful owners, the #Khomani. The total area of the farms amounts to app. 38 000 ha. (cf. Chennels/ Du Troit 2004: 104) Some of the farms, which had been bought by the Land Claim Commission for the #Khomani Community, already had a livestock. Another R 35 000 were used to buy wild animals for the other farms

President, was present at the ceremony in Andriesvale and he underlined the significance of the event: “What we are doing here in the Northern Cape is an example to many people around the world. We are fulfilling our pact with the United Nations during this decade of Indigenous People.” (Mbeki quote from Chennels/ Du Toit 2004: 100)

In this first phase of the Claims, the Mier Community did receive 27 000 ha of farmland outside the park. This land was mostly allocated to small farms. In addition to the land also the infrastructure on it was handed over to the Mier TLC. They also received money to buy land for the communal reserve of the Mier Community. (cf. Ellis n.d.: 5) One of the biggest challenges in connection with the restitution of land in South Africa is reflected in the example of the first phase of the #Khomani Land Claim. As, for several reasons, the community had difficulties to administer the adjudicated farms, the call for a governmental intervention was very loud in 2002. To the High Court it was obvious that the community leaders did not possess the abilities needed to properly deal with all aspects of the new land ownership. It was therefore decided, that until the community leaders would develop a proper governance themselves, the management of the farms would be supervised and examined by the Department of Land Affairs. (cf. Chennels/ Du Toit 2004: 104) The negotiations on the second phase of the land claims between the #Khomani Community, the Mier Community, the SANParks and the Department of Land Affairs took years to be completed. The topic in question was the size and location of the area of land given to the #Khomani and Mier Communities within the park. In addition, the rights of these groups in and round the - in the meantime renamed as - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, still had to be discussed. On 31 August 2002, the so called “!Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park Agreement“ was signed in the presence of the Minister of Land Affairs, Thoko Didiza, in Twee Rivieren. (cf. SASI n.d.:3) In the second phase 25 000 ha each, were allocated to the #Khomani and Mier Communities in the southern part of the park. The two areas were bordering each other. In addition, the #Khomani Community did receive important cultural, symbolic and commercial rights, applying to almost half of the former KGNP. (cf. Chennels/ Du Troit 2004: 104) The charts on page 118 and page 119 show the land restituted to the Mier and #Khomani Communities. The marked land within the park is split in half between the Mier and the #Khomani Communities. In the context of the #Khomani Land Claim, the aspect of “hunting” is of utmost importance and I want to point this out explicitly. The historical land used by #Khomani stretches out over an area of half a million hectares. This estimation is based on stories told by the old #Khomani, who described their former hunting grounds during the preparatory phase of the land claim.

The embedding of the aspect of hunting in the land claim, even if this was not explicitly done,

had the consequence that many members of the community thought that they were free to hunt in this particular area of the park as soon as the land had been allocated to them. The

#Khomani Community did expect to receive all rights and were facing no restrictions after the restitution. The #Khomani Community did not only expect to receive the land ownership but also all rights of exploitation. (cf. Ellis 2002: 8) After the finalisation of the first phase and while the negotiations on the “!Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park Agreement“ were still ongoing, South Africa and Botswana signed the agreement to establish the first Peace Park in South Africa, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Parks. The interesting aspect is that via the Heritage Park-Agreement also the #Khomani Community and Mier Community are part owners of the South African share of the park. Nevertheless, the Mier and #Khomani were completely excluded from all official negotiations on Trans-Frontier Issues. The official justification for this was that their share of the park was geographically not within the Cross Border Resource Management Area. (cf. Ellis 2002: 8)

Maano Ramutsindela from the University of Cape Town provides the following explanation:

“In terms of ownership it´s going to be very difficult to prove who owns this. The people, the San in the Kalahari, they are disentitled to their land. To say that somebody is owning the land who is not registered becomes more complicated but maybe land use has fairly little to do with registered title. But landownership and authority over land maybe has something to do with who uses the land or who dictates the rules of land use other than whose land it is registered.” (Interview Ramutsindela 2005)

(ill. 11: Restitution of land to the Mier Community. From: !Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park Agreement 2002: 326)