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& IZWE LAMI
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IZWE LAMI
The Real History of ‘Black’ Land Titling and Khaya Lami in Leon Louw’s words
For historical accuracy, the true history of Khaya Lam must be appreciated. Khaya Lam’s seeds were planted by me before I created the old FMF in 1973, paradoxically during my misguided late 1960s communist activism years. I queried why fellow communists opposed apartheid which was pure communism, as British economist, Roy Harrod, observed, for all but a tiny minority of whites, especially regarding land.
Like the EFF today, apartheid wanted all ‘black’ land to be nationalized, even in the ‘homelands’. One of the reasons for my conversion to private ownership was abhorrence at the injustice inflicted by apartheid communism on the land-deprived ‘masses’. When I pointing out that apartheid was communism for black people and should therefore have been supported by communists and socialists, it caused much confusion. To this day, ‘leftist’ intellectuals have not explained why they opposed apartheid land policy.
From 1993, thanks to the support of such visionaries as Bonne Posma and Paul Harris, “my fledgling FMF fostered freely tradable ownership for all.
Contrary to the myopic narrative of those left behind in the old FMF, the number of titles issued through Khaya Lam is not to the mere 10,000 since they participated, but ten-fold more, over 100,000.
First Full Titles
Missing from the falsified Khaya Lam story as told to the de Klerk Foundation and others is that the first full freehold titles for black people were in traditional or ‘tribal’ areas in two of the old ‘homelands’, Ciskei and Bophuthatswana. The irony is that it started there despite the ‘leftist’ myth that ‘chiefs would never allow private ownership’.
During the 70s and 80s, I was honored to address many ‘tribal’ meetings. About half, with the full support of chiefs and headmen (village leaders), agreed to full titles. Through the growing FMF, we were, under my direction, instrumental to the registration of thousands of titles.
Fort Hare University academics noted that villages with titles were obvious from planes that flew over the old Ciskei. Those with titles had trees and brick houses instead of barren mud huts.
The second big Khaya Lam titling accomplishment was also in a traditional area, Bakgatla ba Mocha, north-east of Pretoria, during the early 2000s. Under Chief Mokgoko, we issued deeds to all villagers.
Khaya Lam in ‘Locations’
My next action was to extend Khaya Lam, not yet known by that name, to ‘locations’ in ‘white group areas’, now called ‘townships’. The first were the ‘conversion to freehold’ of thousands of ’99-year leaseholds’ in Soweto and elsewhere, followed by titling of ‘proclaimed’ properties.
Only what followed this advanced stage is admitted by my successors because they have a cancel culture whereby they are censoring my life’s work from the record. Nothing of substance remains on their website since virtually everything was produced by or through me, including thousands of articles, papers, submissions, analyses, videos and more. All has been deleted, and none of my copyright has been returned.
A seminal moment was around 2011 when the late Perry Feldman became involved after asking me what he might do for the ‘black’ communities in his retirement town, Ngwathe (Parys), where he had farmed and traded. Since he was politically well-connected, I suggested land titling. Many visits and meetings later, the Council and Province agreed to full titling under our direction.
We named the project ‘Khaya Lam’ (my home) in 2012 after consultation with Perry Feldman and my former colleague, Temba Nolutshungu. Perry and I travelled far and wide with his wife Veronica to introduce Khaya Lam to many communities.
Sadly, all that Khaya Lam could achieve until now was the titling of ‘low hanging fruit’ properties, that is ones that had been ‘proclaimed’ with ‘township registers’.
The greater need now being addressed by me is the vast majority of ‘black’ land with registrable ‘layout plans’ and semi-formal ‘pegging’. The government had to be persuaded to proclaim more land, which is now well under way so that thousands of extra deeds can be registered. It must now be persuaded to reform dinosaur apartheid laws that make it impossible to register ‘full title’ for most land.
I worked with the Johannesburg Council, for instance, to proclaim land and register deeds. Over two thousand titles in Alexandra township alone, and thousands more in other parts of the city such as in Soweto and Cosmo City.
Perry and I worked with the Cape Town Council, which needed much persuasion before adopting titling. In all, we worked with about 60 councils and traditional communities.
Although much has been and is being achieved, Khaya Lam’s scope has been multiplied through its successor, Izwe Lami (my land). This exciting new project has added law reform to enable titling of the vast majority of ‘black’ properties which had been excluded.
The Future
Additionally, the new Khaya Lam, Izwe Lami, is addressing the nightmare being created by over four million ‘RDP’ titles. They are not real titles because they have a demeaning ‘pre-emptive’ clause whereby pseudo-titles are lost unless recipients remain in personal and exclusive occupation for eight years. Millions of residents live under a form of post-apartheid house arrest. Most RDPs have been sold or let unlawfully, which means that government records contradict reality. Most RDP ‘titles’ are false. We are finding ways to rectify this seminal travesty.
The enormity of the challenge and potential can be comprehended only when the numbers are appreciated. There are an estimated eight to ten million ‘black’ properties worth, according to FNB estimates, four to six trillion rands. That is three times the annual Budget and as much as the entire economy (GDP). In other words, South Africa has a GDP of ‘dead capital’ already held, but not owned, by millions of black compatriots. This is what Khaya Lam and now Izwe Lami are liberating into the economy and the hands of rightful owners.
As I have said on many platforms with Perry Feldman in Khaya Lam titling ceremonies, I do not want to die until apartheid’s land legacy has been eliminated by ensuring that all ‘black’ people own their homes and properties.
