The Land Reform and Rural Development Department has noted widespread challenges faced by Communal Property Associations (CPAs) in the North West.
These include but are not limited to internal conflicts, inadequate management skills, and a lack of administrative capacity, poor financial management, and significant delays in title deed transfers.
Some of these concerns were laid bare to the North West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Madoda Sambatha, who on behalf of the Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyontsho chaired the engagement session of the meeting on Thursday.
Speaking on YOUFM News Hour, Sambatha said that some of these issues lead to CPAs failing to function, resulting in land lying fallow and hindering broader land reform objectives.
“What we discovered when listening to CPAs throughout the day, is a mix of complaints with some of them performing very well according to what they are elected for while others are not performing to the expectation.
But there are also others that hijacked by personal interest, wherein even when they have a budget for development, that budget is misused.
There were also, for example, concerns raised that the other CPA misappropriated R23m development funds received within seven days while others did not receive any funds,” said Sambatha.
The MEC highlighted that some of the common complaints raised include the conflicts between traditional leaders and CPA leadership.
“That’s the sense we got from the engagements that the CPAs in some instances are unappreciated.
What we have also discovered is that the CPAs are normally hijacked when there’s a conflict between the traditional authority leadership and CPA leadership who are serving at the time and when there’s a disunity between leaders of the CPAs themselves,” added the MEC.
To help resolve the impasse, Sambatha said that there’s an urgent need to resolve the conflict to ensure a co-existence and healthy, collegial working relationship between traditional leaders and CPA leadership.
“The Minister has now started a process in parliament of establishing the communal property registry, which will dictate in terms of the founding principle, that you must have clauses which speak to a necessary relationship and coherence between traditional leadership and CPAs that exist in a traditional land predominantly.
So, if Kgosi is not part of the executive of the CPA, that must be done in an understanding that Kgosi has an authority over his traditional community who are beneficiaries and who are not.
So, this will mean there must be an amendment of the CPA Act so that CPAs whilst elected recognises a working relationship with the Traditional leadership and Traditional council,” emphasised Sambatha
In addition, the MEC said it has also been discovered that some CPA executives refuse to relinquish power beyond their term of office, causing unnecessary conflicts amongst community members.
“This is a dominant concern that arose from them (CPAs) that some of the executives beyond their term refuses to leave office, secondly some continue beyond their term to sign contracts binding to the CPA.
We then argued that maybe could be resolved by an amendment to the structure of the CPA which must include the relationship with the traditional leadership, and the local municipal leadership and its councillors.
Because you would find that in most instances discussions of CPA development exclude any reference to an IDP of the ward and that of the municipality, even though it is the government that provides funds for developments,” remarked Sambatha.
The MEC said that the government is legally empowered to intervene where there are clear violations of CPA Act.
