Richtersveld

[Mila]

http://beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/Article.aspx?Id=4327&ShowId=1

Katrina Louw (Richtersveld subsistence farmer): "I pray that they'll be swept away - Oh Lord - never to be seen again."

An angry resident of the Richtersveld - scene of one of the biggest land claims in South African history. And now possibly the most controversial one too, with some Richtersvelders at each other's throats.

[Clip] Amateur footage of AGM chaos

The State fenced off the diamond mines of the Richtersveld in the far Northern Cape in 1927 - so when the local community won its land back 80 years later - the Richtersveld became the "poster boy" of the dispossessed - carrying with it the promise of a new and better life.

Katrina: "I felt very happy that we won the land; it is now ours. I was very happy with it."

73-year-old Katrina Louw is one of over 200, poor subsistence farmers in this remote part of the north-western Cape. The community's sudden access to significant wealth was a windfall:

Katrina: 'We received farms, animals. We received the farm implements."

To a subsistence farmer it was heaven. Samuel Cloete has worked on the farms for 40 years.

Bongani Bingwa (Carte Blanche presenter): "When you first came here, what were the farms like?"

Samuel Cloete (Retrenched farm worker): "Ooh! it was like a paradise. The fruit orchards, the vegetables, feed for the cows... the cows, the sheep, the horses, the chickens. Everything was here - plenty, plenty, plenty."

Bongani: 'You can hardly tell, but this farm was once teeming with life. There was everything here from cattle to pigs to ostriches. There was an abattoir here, a tannery here. For the people who had worked all their lives on farms like this, to be told this was now theirs, it was a dream come true."

The Richtersvelders were awarded more than farms - it was serious wealth: R190-million; a share in the Richtersveld National Park, a 49% share in the State-owned Alexkor diamond mine - dependent on the transfer of mining rights - the five working farms belonging to Alexkor; a R50-million development fund, R45-million for housing; and the diamond-mining town of Alexander Bay.

Diamonds - this land is full of them - and they seem to be the obstacle standing in the way of the dreams of many Richtersvelders. Although the courts and government were clearly thinking of food security and farming when the award was made:

[Archive] Alex Erwin (Former government minister): "We're providing funds and will work with the community to develop the agriculture."

Bongani: "What did you expect to happen?"

Katrina: "I was waiting for a better life now that we received our land with everything that went with it."

Bongani: "Who made the promises?"

Katrina: "The CPA, the leaders we elected - they promised us."

In awarding the land claim, the courts made provision for the establishment of the Richtersveld Communal Property Association or CPA under which all the recipients of the award would be registered. With a number of investment companies intended to earn income for the Trust, on paper all looked promising.

[Archive 2007]: Alex: "They have to establish trusts and companies in order to take ownership of the assets."

But in stark contrast to the words of then-minister Alec Erwin the man elected to lead the CPA and Richtersveld out of poverty seemed to have other ideas. And what was produced on the farms wasn't part of his plan for the Trust.

I almost cried when I saw this. The bloody greedy dog.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

So. Wait. They got everything. And just sat around waiting until everything had died? They didn't actually work or anything? Why should we feel sorry for them?

 

[Mila]

So. Wait. They got everything. And just sat around waiting until everything had died? They didn't actually work or anything? Why should we feel sorry for them?

They had a manager of the trust. He closed it down. said farming was not an option. The same manager has shares in the diamond mine. HE closed the farm and sold the stuff.

The people got fed up and hired a farm manager ( a 4 generation farmer from the freestate.) The farm was fixed and started doing good. The First manager did not like the farm manager and sent her away. And everything was sold and died again.

Those people are being raped for their trust money and they acctually want the help from a decent farmer. The Trust manager even retrenched the farm workers that wanted to farm.


Very sad.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

They had a manager of the trust. He closed it down. said farming was not an option. The same manager has shares in the diamond mine. HE closed the farm and sold the stuff.

The people got fed up and hired a farm manager ( a 4 generation farmer from the freestate.) The farm was fixed and started doing good. The First manager did not like the farm manager and sent her away. And everything was sold and died again.

Those people are being raped for their trust money and they acctually want the help from a decent farmer. The Trust manager even retrenched the farm workers that wanted to farm.


Very sad.

Ah. Why isn't he charged with something criminal then? Either way, giving people farms never turns out very well.

 

[Mila]

Ah. Why isn't he charged with something criminal then? Either way, giving people farms never turns out very well.

He is acting with in his rights as the trust manager. They just sat around hoping it would get better. They now has started to riot at the meetings and seems that something might happen.

I think the people (not the farmers ) had their eye on the diamond mine in the first place. Why bother with agriculture if you have a mine?

Sad thing is they will probably vote the same.

 

[SoulTax]

Ah. Why isn't he charged with something criminal then? Either way, giving people farms never turns out very well.

It does if the people on the farms want to work, and you let them. True its not the typical scenario that the people receiving the farm will want to work at it, but in this case it is, and one stupid pleb goes and ruins it all.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

It does if the people on the farms want to work, and you let them. True its not the typical scenario that the people receiving the farm will want to work at it, but in this case it is, and one stupid pleb goes and ruins it all.

But they don't want to farm commercially. They want to own a farm, because the farmers they know are rich. Now they have one, and a patch of crop the size of a small caravan, and they can't understand where did the other farmer get his money from.

 

[Mila]

It does if the people on the farms want to work, and you let them. True its not the typical scenario that the people receiving the farm will want to work at it, but in this case it is, and one stupid pleb goes and ruins it all.

And are managed, which they seemed to want.

 

[Mila]

But they don't want to farm commercially. They want to own a farm, because the farmers they know are rich. Now they have one, and a patch of crop the size of a small caravan, and they can't understand where did the other farmer get his money from.

These people acctually wanted too. When there were a good manager they even had incubators for the ostridge.
This is why it is sad for me. It's not the normal I want my land story. THese people were willing to have the land they work on to be managed for them while they work on it. So they would have paid the manager a salary and money for the running of things, They would then have shared the profit.

49% of the diamond mine is also theirs.


But the guy with the eye on the diamonds did not want to farm he wanted land diamonds and a BMW.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

These people acctually wanted too. When there were a good manager they even had incubators for the ostridge.
This is why it is sad for me. It's not the normal I want my land story. THese people were willing to have the land they work on to be managed for them while they work on it. So they would have paid the manager a salary and money for the running of things, They would then have shared the profit.

49% of the diamond mine is also theirs.


But the guy with the eye on the diamonds did not want to farm he wanted land diamonds and a BMW.

But if they pay him. Why didn't they fire him? Now they sit and say:"It all happened so fast. Just woosh, all gone."

 

[Mila]

But if they pay him. Why didn't they fire him? Now they sit and say:"It all happened so fast. Just woosh, all gone."

They seem to have tried but nothing happend, now it got violent... I guess they got tired of waiting. Which is a good thing.

Where is the richtersveld to where they want to frack with shell?

 

[-toady-]

Yep, though whole thing was a shocker from start to finish... My old man says the whole business will be forgotten but who knows - maybe someone with clout saw the insert, and will ride to the rescue...

These people acctually wanted too. When there were a good manager they even had incubators for the ostridge.
This is why it is sad for me. It's not the normal I want my land story. THese people were willing to have the land they work on to be managed for them while they work on it. So they would have paid the manager a salary and money for the running of things, They would then have shared the profit.

49% of the diamond mine is also theirs.


But the guy with the eye on the diamonds did not want to farm he wanted land diamonds and a BMW.