On Wednesday, 27 May 2015 in the Land Claims Court, two professional property valuation experts will give oral evidence regarding the value of land that must be purchased by the state on behalf of a land claimant.

As a labour tenant, Mr Philemon Msiza’s father made a land claim ten years ago. This was a claim for the land on which he lived and which he utilised for grazing and growing crops. Mr Msiza’s father passed away before the claim was finalised and our client was appointed as representative of the estate. During 2004, with the assistance of LRC, the matter went to court and was found in favour of Mr Msiza. His late father was declared a labour tenant and awarded land.

The dispute has arisen due to the failure of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to offer the owner of the land compensation for the same amount that was found to be the value of the land.

The val–u–a–tor found that the pur–chase price for the land awarded to our Mr Msiza’s father should be R2,980,000. The Depart–ment ignored the val–u–a–tion report and offered the own–er of the land an amount of R408,000.

In 2012, Mr Msiza approached the LRC again. The LRC asked the Court to determine the price of the land and the compensation to be paid to the land owners by the Department, in terms of Section 23 of the Labour Tenants Act.

On the 3 December last year (see press statement below), the Land Claims Court referred  the following issues for further evidence: the basis of valuation on agricultural value, versus potential value for property development; the amount of compensation to be paid for the land awarded to our client. This will be heard in court this week.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the owners of the land have decided to use the services of professional property valuation experts.

Issued by LRC