Displaced coloured community claims Orania

November 28, 2005, 17:45

The Land Claims Commission has confirmed that a claim by a displaced community on the proposed Afrikaner volkstaat, Orania, is at an advanced stage. About 67 people, who claim to have been forcefully removed from the area in 1991, have lodged a land claim with the commission. The claim was published in the government gazette last week and the residents of Orania have 30 days to oppose the claim.

Piet Vos, who has lived in Orania since the age of 12, was forced off his the land when Carel Boshoff bought the farm in 1991 and created Orania. Vos and the other 66 people were told to leave. "Carel Boshoff did not want to negotiate with us. They forcefully removed us and that hurt us," said Vos, one of the claimants.

Residents of Orania say they have researched the history of the town and they do not believe a land claim will be successful. Danie Opperman, the Orania mayor, agrees. "Most of the people left because their project ended and it is in the nature of a construction camp that people must go when their project is ended," said Opperman.

The Land Claims Commission says all the requirements need to be looked at before a decision can be made.

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