By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa presided over the handover of title deeds ceremony to the Gaesegwe, Barolong ba ga Rapulana, Barolong ba ga Phoi and Barolong ba ga Seitshiro communities at the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West Province.
The handover marks a significant milestone in government’s ongoing efforts to redress historical land dispossession and restore land rights to rightful beneficiaries.
More than 368 title deeds were handed over to families, transitioning their occupational rights into secure, formal ownership.
Furthermore, some 20 local farmers who previously leased state land received full freehold titles, effectively elevating them from tenants to commercial landowners.
Additionally, the President handed over title deeds to three Communal Property Associations who represent communities who were brutally removed from their land by force and have “spent decades working through the legal and administrative processes to get it back”.
“We are celebrating because the dignity of communities is restored. For many of you, this day has been a long time coming. Today is the culmination of a struggle for land that has become a reality.”
“When Chief Gaesegwe Henry Phoi submitted his community’s land claim on 9 July 1996, he was acting on a constitutional promise this country had just made to itself,” the President said.
South Africa’s Constitution guarantees that any person or community dispossessed of land after 19 June 1913 is entitled to restitution or equitable redress.
The apartheid government’s 1913 Natives Land Act stripped millions of black South Africans of their land, assets, livelihoods and communities, with the effects of that brutal law still visible across the country today.
“Our Constitution, which was adopted 30 years ago, says that any person or community dispossessed of land after 19 June 1913 is entitled to restitution of that property or equitable redress.
“So, when I hand over these title deeds today, I am fulfilling a Constitutional responsibility,” Ramaphosa said.
The President assured those that are still waiting for their Constitutional promise to be fulfilled that “we have not forgotten you”.
“In 1913, the Natives Land Act took from our people what they had built over generations. In 1996, the democratic Constitution gave a clear instruction to return the land to individuals and communities.”
Meanwhile Ramaphosa will on Saturday, 30 May 2026, address the official launch of the Kruger National Park (KNP) Centenary Commemoration at Skukuza Rest Camp in Mpumalanga.
The year 2026 marks a significant milestone in South Africa’s conservation history as Kruger National Park commemorates 100 years since its formal proclamation in 1926.
The president and Health Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi will be officially launching the national rollout of Lenacapavir on June 5, 2026 in Mpumalanga. The twice-yearly, long-acting HIV prevention injection will be distributed to over 360 public clinics across 24 high-incidence districts.