Land alienation and land reform

reform. For them livelihoods, land, water use and access to the ancestors via graveside visits all form a continuum in the relationship with the land and nature.

Land alienation and land reform

The area around Makhado (Louis Trichardt) and the Soutpansberg was shaped by a history of land dispossession from the original Venda owners. An early attempt by white settlers was repulsed in 1867, when the inhabitants of Schoemansdal had to retreat inland. Only in 1898, through a military campaign, did the then Transvaal Republic succeed in driving off the land Venda living around the western part of the Soutpansberg (Bergh, ed 1998). However, the Venda clans remained on the land in the rain belt mountains to the East. As a result of this relatively late colonisation, there are a large number of land claims in the area. One of these claims, that of the Malumbwane, is central to debates about the future and desirability of the EMSEZ. During a series of interviews, it emerged that a number of Malumbwane households had serious concerns about both the desirability and legality of leasing their land to the EMSEZ, as well as serious concerns about how that lease was agreed on. The Malumbwane were removed from white farms on the land where the EMSEZ is planned. They have graves going back generations on those farms. In fact, after the MCPA received the land back, a number of families settled on the farm to look after the graves and keep a watchful eye on developments there. However, a December 2016 agreement, signed by Sam Mulaudzi14 , chairperson of the MCPA at that stage, agrees to a monthly rent of R175 000 for an area of roughly 6 000 hectares, at around 3% escalation per year, for a period of 90 years, with an option to extend for another 30 years. LEDET undertakes to give priority to MCPA members for jobs and SMME opportunities, as well as 5% (in shares) of the property management company, and undertakes to explore the possibility of the MCPA becoming a BEE partner. LEDET gets full management control and the right to conduct studies in the area, and the MCPA agrees that it understands that LEDET intends to develop an EMSEZ and sublet parts of the land. A November 2017 agreement (also signed by Mulaudzi), confirmed the MCPA as the prime partner with responsibilities to organise participation on behalf of the Malumbwane community, and to present a list of trainees from the community. In interviewees conducted in February 2021 with some Malumbwane community members, they confirmed that they had selected a number of youth for training in skills that would be necessary to use the land they had won back. They also have very clear plans about how they would use

14 Mr Mulaudzi passed away in April 2021.