Malema land claimed by 4 tribal clans

Malema Palmietfontein plot was already being claimed by four seperate black communities…

2011-07-24 LIMPOPO. Journalists Piet Rampedi and Adriaan Basson, City Press, write that a 3,5ha smallholding carved out of the traditional Boer farm of Palmietfontein after 1994 was recently bought for R900,000 cash by the ruling party's youth league leader Julius Malema.

However this farm – including the little Malema-smallholding which faces the Silicon Smelters north of Pietersburg, was already hotly contested long before this purchase: four different tribal clans have placed claims on Palmietfontein between  1994 and 1998 which are still not resolved. This was confirmed to City Press by Eddie Mohoebi of the rural development and land reform dept. He confirmed that the Ga-Mothapo tribal community and its trust, as well as the Maboi and -Motokolo tribal clans have all lodged claims.

Mohoebi told City Press: "The claims are still under research. It might still take time to arrive at the decision, because the four claims must all be researched and evidence collected and analysed before a final decision can be made. It is not possible to indicate how long that process will take as there are internal conflicts within the claimant communities, making it very difficult to obtain consensus on important issues affecting the claim."

Malema declined to comment to City Press on his ownership of the plot and how he had funded its purchase. The affected communities could not be reached for comment. The phone at the Ga-Mothapo traditional authority rang unanswered and the other claimants could also not be reached, according to the journalists.

From early childhood, Malema spied for, rioted and agitated as a member of the Masupatsela pioneer movement on behalf of Walter Sisulu:

Malema hails from that region. He is a Sotho-speaking member of the Pedi tribe and was born in the then-Lebowa homeland, in Seshego, northwest of Pietersburg in Limpopo - which used to be the capital of Lebowa. His mother was a domestic worker. From early childhood Malema joined the Masupatsela ("trailblazers") communist pioneer movement of the then-outlawed African National Congress. (picture left). These Masupatsela Pioneers alligned themselves with ANC-leader Walter Sisulu.  The main task of the Masupatsela pioneers was to create chaos targetting the National Party government structures. Its activities however also included spying on fellow-Pedis on behalf of the ANC-exiles  - to identify and terrorise those tribal members and their children who cooperated with the NP. The record shows that these youngsters were participating in considerably violent rioting and high levels  of aggression from a very early age: they burnt down their own schools, they attacked symbols of the capitalist system such as shopkeepers, and they often threatened fellow-blacks with violence if they did not adhere to the ANC-line. The Masupatsela A Sisulu movement tried to stay afloat after 1994 and still has a face book page with some 340 members: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111413188896535&v=info. However there’s now also a Masupatsela movement – reinvented as a charity to assist people with HIV-Aids.

Until 1974 Seshego was the capital of the semi-autonomous Lebowa homeland. The first thing the ANC did when they gained hegemony of SA in 1994, was to abolish all the autonomous tribal homelands.

This is a very fertile region and the Lebowa homeland was wealthy: with plenty of jobs for the black community on surrounding farms and at industries which produced large quantities of produce, fruit, beverages, tobacco, textiles, wearing apparel, leather goods, wood and wood products, fabricated metal products, machinery, and equipment. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Jujus-farm-plot-under-land-claim-20110723-2