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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

Brazil: Wayde’s dream destination since childhood
2015-12-15


Wayde van Niekerk knows he has to work even harder in 2016 if he wants to achieve success at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Charl Devenish

When he was still in primary school, Wayde’s dream destination was Brazil. Even his dog’s name is Rio.

So it almost seems written in the stars for Wayde van Niekerk to take part in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio.

According to the 400m athlete of the University of the Free State (UFS), the Olympics has been something he has been dreaming about for years.

Van Niekerk, who studies BA Marketing at the UFS, has had a phenomenal 2015 season, and the whole of South Africa hopes he can repeat his outstanding form in Rio. The Olympics will be held from 5-21 August 2016.

Funny story

“It actually is a funny story. You know when you are in primary school, and the teacher says you have to write down your dream destination. Mine was Brazil,” Van Niekerk revealed.

“In 2012 at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, I saw they introduced Rio as the next hosting country, and I thought Wow! That is where I want to be, and what I want to do.

“That opened my eyes and I knew God has a plan for me. I have to put in the hard work and achieve something with my life. Luckily from there on, there was pure growth in my life and I am grateful for that.”

His dream is also carried by his dog, Rio, a husky he got about two years ago.

Preparation in 2016

Van Niekerk will follow a specific programme leading up to Rio 2016.

In February next year, he will still be taking things easy, but will probably compete for the UFS in the Varsity Sports athletics.

“You have to build up slowly to peak at the right time,” he said.

In June 2016, he will start competing internationally in Jamaica, then New York, the All-Africa Games in Durban, and then,  some Diamond League events before the Olympics in August.

In the archive:

KovsieSport star

NBC tells waydes story

Wayde nominated as SAs best

Wayde Adidas face

Wayde’s hat trick of awards

Congratulate wayde and other achievers

Wayde wins gold

Kovsie trailblazing track runner

Kovsie gold medalist

Kovsie Campion sprinter

Wayde sets African record

Kovsies keep winning, this time in athletics

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