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15 January 2019 | Story Charlene Stanley
COURT Case
From the left: Prof Danie Brand, Director of the Free State Centre for Human Rights, with his co-counsel Anna-Marie de Vos SC and their legal opponents Lawrie Wilkin and Uday Kiran Naidoo during the Grootkraal case in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

 

What rights do black farming families have on land they obtained during a period when restrictive legislation made it impossible for black people to own land?

This was the legal issue at stake in the matter of Grace Maledu v Itereleng Bakgatla Mineral Resources. In this case, 13 families of the Lesetlheng Village Community in the North-West Province bought a farm a hundred years ago. Apartheid-era legislation prohibited them from owning land, and the land was held in trust for them by the state.

Their descendants were recently threatened with eviction, after a multi-national mining company obtained mining rights on the land.    

Free State Centre for Human Rights Getting Involved

Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria instructed Professor Danie Brand, Director of the Free State Centre for Human Rights on the Bloemfontein Campus, to act as co-counsel for the community in the High Court and the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court has now ruled in favour of the Lesetlheng community, upholding their rights to continue farming.  The judgment effectively protects them against the mining company’s attempt to evict them. It also establishes the important principle that a holder of a mining right may not commence with mining on land, unless it has made a reasonable effort in good faith to reach an agreement with the actual people who use and occupy that land.

“This constitutes an important development in our law,” explains Prof Brand. “It establishes that nobody should have absolute control over land and that different rights to and interests in land can overlap without one trumping the other.”

Assisting Farm Workers

The centre also recently  assisted a community of farm workers in the Western Cape who were threatened with eviction from a portion of the Grootkraal Farm where they have conducted church, school, and other community activities for the past 200 years. Prof Brand acted as co-counsel in this case before the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, where judgment was delivered in their favour.

These two cases herald the re-establishment of a legal services division within the Free State Centre for Human Rights, giving effect to their community-engagement mandate.

 

What rights do black farming families have on land they obtained during a period when restrictive legislation made it impossible for black people to own land?

This was the legal issue at stake in the matter of Grace Maledu v Itereleng Bakgatla Mineral Resources. In this case, 13 families of the Lesetlheng Village Community in the North-West Province bought a farm a hundred years ago. Apartheid-era legislation prohibited them from owning land, and the land was held in trust for them by the state.

Their descendants were recently threatened with eviction, after a multi-national mining company obtained mining rights on the land. 
 

Free State Centre for Human Rights Getting Involved

Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria instructed Professor Danie Brand, Director of the Free State Centre for Human Rights on the Bloemfontein Campus, to act as co-counsel for the community in the High Court and the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court has now ruled in favour of the Lesetlheng community, upholding their rights to continue farming.  The judgment effectively protects them against the mining company’s attempt to evict them. It also establishes the important principle that a holder of a mining right may not commence with mining on land, unless it has made a reasonable effort in good faith to reach an agreement with the actual people who use and occupy that land.

“This constitutes an important development in our law,” explains Prof Brand. “It establishes that nobody should have absolute control over land and that different rights to and interests in land can overlap without one trumping the other.”

Assisting Farm Workers

The centre also recently  assisted a community of farm workers in the Western Cape who were threatened with eviction from a portion of the Grootkraal Farm where they have conducted church, school, and other community activities for the past 200 years. Prof Brand acted as co-counsel in this case before the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, where judgment was delivered in their favour.

These two cases herald the re-establishment of a legal services division within the Free State Centre for Human Rights, giving effect to their community-engagement mandate.

News Archive

Spring graduation ceremony
2008-09-15

Law awards largest number of doctorates 

The Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) this week awarded four doctorate degrees during the spring graduation ceremony, which took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. This is the largest number of doctorates awarded by the faculty during one graduation ceremony. Here are, from the left: Dr Tjaart Maré, Dr Ilze Keevy, and Dr Pierre Rabie. Dr Daniel Mekonnen was absent when the photo was taken. Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

UFS awards degrees
 

The University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this week. Altogether 840 diplomas and degrees were awarded. Here are, from the left: Mss Mamokete Marokane, who obtained a B.Com. Human Resource Management degree, Elzaan Jacobs, who obtained a B.Com. Accounting degree, and Mmanyefolo Mosia, who also obtained a B.Com. Accounting degree. Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 The University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this week. Altogether 840 diplomas and degrees were awarded. Here are, from the left: Mr Roger Potgieter, M.B.A. degree, Ms Amanda Share, M.B.A. degree, Zarita Naudé, B.Com. Accounting, and Mr Kobus van den Berg, M.B.A. degree. Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

UFS awards extraordinary degree 

Prof. Ivan Horak, extraordinary professor at the University of the Free State's (UFS) Department of Zoology and Entomology, this week became the third person in the history of the UFS to receive the D.Sc. degree. The degree was awarded to him during the spring graduation ceremony which took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. Here are, from the left: Prof. Jo van As, Head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology, Prof. Horak, and Ms Ellie van Dalen, Lecturer at the UFS Department of Zoology and Entomology.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

UFS awards doctorate degrees 

Altoghether 29 doctorate degrees were awarded this week during the University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. During the chancellor's dinner are, from the left: Dr Anabela Da Silva, a student from Mozambique who obtained a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Prof. Maryke Labuschagne, UFS Department of Plant Sciences and promoter of Dr Da Silva, Dr Edward Jurua, a student from Uganda who obtained his Ph.D. in Astro Physics, and Dr Pieter Meintjes, from the UFS Department of Physics and promoter of Dr Jurua.
Photo: Gerhard Louw

 

Spring graduation ceremony
 

Dr. Meshach Aziakpono (middle) is one of the students of the University of the Free State (UFS) who obtained a Ph.D. (Economics) during the spring graduation ceremony on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. Here he is with Prof. Phillipe Burger (left), Head of the Department of Economics at the UFS and mentor of Dr Aziakpono, and Prof. Stan du Plessis (right), Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University and co-mentor of Dr Aziakpono.
Photo: Gerhard Louw

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