Page 22 - Our Land

OUR LAND 22

BACK HOME A view of the development on the farm the community bought. They own their own homes and have land in Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal, which they
farm under the guidance and help of Peter Stockil PHOTOS: TEBOGO LETSIE
ibonelo in KwaZulu-Natal looks like any structures for each family on their own plots.”
other ordinary settlement – dirt roads THE More government funding was sought for the trust
and houses with mostly unplastered and soon they were able to start planting sorghum
exterior walls, which make them look on about 60ha of their own land.
impoverished. Outwardly, there’s nothing Stockil provides machinery and other implements
Sto differentiate the settlement from the needed for each planting and harvesting season. He is
RDP houses down the hill in the nearby Khethani STORY one of the trustees who helps to oversee the affairs
township. and finances of the trust. Stockil said some of the
Until you get the story behind the name. Sibonelo original 38 still worked for him on his farm, as well
is a Zulu name meaning “something that is as working their own land.
exemplary”. “I am glad they are now living on their own land
Unlike those who live in Khethani, the residents of OF A close to town, which means they are nearer to
Sibonelo own way more than the small plots on schools and other job opportunities. We call this
which their houses are built. model agrivillage and we believe it can work in many
The residents were formerly farm workers, much other places,” he said.
like their ancestors were before them. However, WORKERS’ Stockil firmly believes this is one workable option
things have changed significantly for this generation for land reform.
– and for their descendants. He says the community works their own plantation
They own their residential plots, which are part of and, with the other trustees, they sit and decide how
the 120 hectares they initially bought as a collective much of the money made from each harvest will go
of 38 families from Peter Stockil on his Glenside farm to each family and how much will be saved for the
outside Winterton, a small town lying at the foothills next planting season and harvest costs.
of the majestic Drakensberg mountain range, which is FARM To keep them going throughout the year, it was
a fertile farming area. agreed that there must be money saved for lean
Stockil’s family had been farming in the area for months. Each family gets R500 every month, which
more than 140 years and he believed that the families comes with a bag of mealie meal.
who had worked there for decades should have land Extra money that goes into the trust account
they could call their own. comes from a cellphone network provider that pays
To make this a reality, he decided to take advantage In Sibonelo, a community of R3 000 every month as “rent” for a tower that was
of the Development Aid Laws Act 126 of 1986, which installed on the trust’s land.
Stockil said allowed a person R15 000 to buy land. farm workers are now farm One of the beneficiaries, Dudu Mabaso, said life in
The community identified 38 farm workers who Sibonelo was “way too different from the time we
should benefit and they applied for the grant to buy lived on the farm”.
land in the area. owners who, with the help of “We’re happy here living proudly on the land we
“I started looking for land to buy in 1996 and soon own. Back then, we were on [Stockil’s] farm. It was
we found a place to buy, and the Isibonelo their former employer, have his farm, his rules. Here, we do what we want and,
Community Land Trust was later registered with for the first time, we are able to bury our people in
120ha of land bought through it just outside harvested prosperity for their our back yards as is our culture,” said 45-year-old
Winterton,” Stockil said. Mabaso.
“Each person paid R6 000 of the R15 000 grant to “What is even better about this place – besides us
buy land and the rest went to building housing families, writes Poloko Tau being owners – we work our own land and, with