Eleven families from Motlhotlo Village, outside Mokopane in Limpopo, will remain on their ancestral land after a Land Court ruling dismissed an eviction application brought by Rustenburg Platinum Mines Limited and Mogalakwena Platinum Limited.
Elisa Langa, the daughter of the late Chief Marcus Masebe Langa, was among those who fought for families not to be removed from Farm Zwartfontein.
The companies, both wholly owned by Anglo American Platinum, had asked the court to evict the families after they refused to be relocated, arguing that mining rights trumped the residents’ occupation, an argument the court rejected.
In its judgment, the court found that the companies had no legal basis to evict or demolish houses or force residents to choose alternative accommodation. It further noted residents’ complaints that some houses were demolished in the absence of owners.
“The respondents allege that some houses were demolished when owners were not present. The applicants did not dispute this allegation. Such conduct is unlawful. This indicates that there was no full, prior, and informed consent in the signing of the relocation agreement.”
According to the Land Court ruling, nearly 1 000 households lived on the contested land before mining rights were secured in 1993, when agreements were signed to resettle communities. Rustenburg Platinum Mines holds the mineral rights, while Mogalakwena Platinum is the lessee of Farm Zwartfontein. Those mining rights expire in 2040.
In court papers, Anglo American Platinum senior manager Tebogo Makhubedu outlined that the physical relocation of households began in May 2007, and that by 2008 the majority of the 956 households had agreed to move to Armoede and Rooibokfontein. However, some families declined to relocate.
By 2010, the number of households opposing relocation had grown to 176, triggering further negotiations. In 2012, 10 representatives of the remaining Motlhotlo villagers signed a relocation agreement with Mogalakwena Platinum.
Mogalakwena Platinum said it later secured rights to use the farm through a notarial lease agreement signed in December 2012 with the Langa-Mapela Traditional Community, represented by Kgoshi David Kgabagare Langa.
A household census and asset survey in 2018 identified 68 households still living in the area. Of those, 18 families refused to move, forming what became known as the “Breakaway Group”, which includes Elisa Langa.
The mining companies argued that the agreements bound all members of the Motlhotlo community, including the 11 respondents, but the court disagreed.
Central to the ruling is the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act (Ipilra), passed in 1996 to shield people who occupy land without formal title but have long-standing rights to it. The court found that the companies should have known about the act and its purpose.
“The applicants, despite having signed the lease in 1993, should have known that Ipilra was promulgated to address the mischief where communities with informal rights to land were deprived of their land without their consent. The applicants continued and signed another lease without the consent of the respondents. The applicants’ conduct illustrates the very mischief that Ipilra sought to prevent,” the judgment reads.
The court also held that where the act applies, companies cannot rely on eviction laws under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act.
Before approaching the court, they were legally required to follow the dispute-resolution process in section 54 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which they were found to have failed to do.
As a result, the application was dismissed in full.
The companies were ordered to cover the residents’ legal expenses, but no punitive costs were imposed.
