Tlou Cholo - failed by the state, fighting for his land

To date, they have not received the deeds of transfer. "Say a prayer for Tlou Cholo, an 85-year-old liberation struggle veteran," Mazwai says - "He spent 14 years on Robben Island after being arrested in 1972 while on mission for Umkhonto weSizwe." While in jail, Cholo's wife, Alinah, continued the fight for the return of their land. Cholo buried his wife in December last year - with no farm in sight.

Cholo is today getting a mighty kick in the jaw, thanks to the young bureaucrats in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mazwai says. Five years after they were told that Wallmansthal farm will be returned to them. Cholo is still waiting. Walter Mokoape, 85, well known in Soweto's small-business community, was also evicted from Wallmansthal farm. He says: "We are struggling and it is our own that are the cause." Recently, the North Gauteng High Court granted an order evicting squatters who had invaded Wallmansthal. Despite the Wallmansthal Communal Property Association appealing to the government, nothing happened. Hence the community, with AfriForum, took legal action.

Simon Makola is among the committee members engaging with the department. He tells Business Day: "We have had meeting after meeting and nothing happens. When we see the sleek cars driven by some of the land invaders, we know that we are not dealing only with vagrants or homeless people." he says. The last straw was when an official in the department forced somebody onto the committee, only for the community to discover that the person was involved with the syndicates selling their land illegally. "After the successful court case, Department of Rural Development and Land Reform officials berated the committee for working with AfriForum," Mazwai says. "But these same officials did not respond when the committee appealed to them directly."

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