Ward 2 Development Forum

Madiba Park: Land Status and Basic Services

Properties2
descriptionMadiba Park stands on Farm 39 land, which is part of the unfinished TRANCRAA process. This page sets out the court rulings, official records, and reported service conditions, and invites each party to give its account.
tagscivic/residents-association, theme/trancraa, lang/en

9 min read

Madiba Park is a settlement in Ward 2 [MS]. It borders Heuwelkroon, which is part of Greyton [MS]. It stands on Farm 39 land [IC], the land on which Genadendal, Bereaville, Voorstekraal, and Boschmanskloof also stand [MS]. Theewaterskloof Municipality does not provide full basic services in Madiba Park [MS]. Its land and service matters fall to the Transformasie Komitee as a result [MS]. People have lived there for more than ten years [TBV].

Why it is contested

Madiba Park sits where Greyton and Genadendal meet. On the ground it lies next to Heuwelkroon and Greyton. Its land is part of Farm 39, together with Genadendal and the other mission settlements [MS]. Its position is part of wider tension between the two communities [MS].

Land status

  • Farm 39 Genadendal is a former mission station of about 4,515 hectares [IC].
  • It is one of the rural areas covered by the Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Act of 1998, known as TRANCRAA [IC].
  • The national Minister responsible for land reform holds the part of Genadendal that lies outside the township area in trust [IC].
  • The national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development acts as custodian of the land at Madiba Park [IC].
  • The land is to pass to the Genadendal community through a Communal Property Association, and this has not been finalised [TBV]. In 2024 a department spokesperson told GroundUp that “certain issues” were still outstanding [MS].
  • News reports often call this a land restitution process. In 2014 the Land Claims Court held that TRANCRAA is a land reform law, and that it does not deal with land restitution [IC].

Court rulings

The rulings below concern Farm 39 as a whole. None of them names Madiba Park [IC]. Court papers call the Transformasie Komitee the Genadendal Transformation Committee [IC].

2008: Settlement made an order of the Western Cape High Court

  • In 2007 the Transformation Committee asked the Western Cape High Court to review actions of the municipality in the transformation process [IC].
  • After mediation, the parties signed a settlement on 17 October 2008. The High Court made it an order of court on 22 October 2008 [IC].
  • According to a later judgment, the settlement declared certain Genadendal land to be Trust Land under TRANCRAA and placed a moratorium on its sale [IC].
  • GroundUp reported in 2019 that this order stops the municipality from using the land at Madiba Park [TBV].
  • The case number and full text of the 2008 order were not found online [TBV].

2014: Land Claims Court strikes the Committee’s application from the roll

  • The Committee and five of its members asked the Land Claims Court to find that the municipality and two Ministers had breached the 2008 order [IC]. They also asked for an order stopping the municipality and the Western Cape Minister of Human Settlements from “alienating, encumbering or diminishing any portion” of Genadendal [IC].
  • On 10 October 2014 the court struck the application from the roll and made no order as to costs [IC].
  • The court found it had no jurisdiction. The 2008 order belonged to the High Court, and TRANCRAA matters fall under land reform, outside the Land Claims Court’s restitution powers [IC].
  • The court did not decide whether the 2008 order had been breached [IC].

2019: High Court sets aside municipal judgments over Genadendal erven

  • Two Genadendal residents appealed against default judgments the municipality had obtained for unpaid municipal accounts on two erven [IC].
  • They argued that the municipality could not claim, because their land falls under TRANCRAA and the Minister holds title to it [IC].
  • On 10 May 2019 the Western Cape High Court set aside the judgments and allowed them to defend the claims. It found they had raised “a substantial defence that is fit for trial” [IC].
  • The question of who holds title to the land was left for trial [IC]. The outcome of any trial was not found [TBV].

Basic services

  • 2017. A municipal spokesperson said “a portion of farm 39 referred to as ‘Madiba Park’” was being considered as a long-term place to settle families displaced from an informal settlement in Bereaville [MS].
  • January 2019. Chemical toilets at Madiba Park were removed on 13 January and the water was cut off on 14 January. Residents protested [IC].
  • January 2019. An ANC member of the provincial legislature said: “This site does not belong to the municipality yet they settled people here” [MS].
  • January 2019. At a meeting on 16 January, the municipality promised four flush toilets, a septic tank, and serviced plots elsewhere within 18 months [MS].
  • 2020. An ANC councillor said the council had promised Madiba Park residents land for homes in 2017 [MS].
  • 2022 to 2023. The municipality budgeted R1.6 million, funded by loans, to electrify Madiba Park. The tender closed on 23 September 2022 [IC]. The February 2023 adjustment budget cut the project [IC]. By June 2023 its budget stood at R73,135, the amount spent [IC].
  • September 2022. The DA’s Western Cape spokesperson on human settlements said the municipality had written twice to the national Minister, Thoko Didiza, asking permission to install interim basic services and for approval of land use, and had received no reply [MS].
  • May 2024. GroundUp found one of five toilets working, and water tanks on the edge of the settlement [TBV]. The municipality counted more than 175 structures; residents said there were more than 220 homes [MS].
  • August 2024. The municipality said 80 families from Madiba Park received emergency housing starter kits from the National Department of Human Settlements after the April storms [MS].

Relocation and housing plans

  • In 2019 the Transformation Committee’s treasurer told GroundUp: “We want [the occupiers] off our land, onto municipal land” [MS].
  • In 2024 he told GroundUp: “We don’t want to evict people, we want to relocate them” [MS].
  • GroundUp reported in 2024 that the planned relocation site lies in Heuwelkroon, to the north-west, with 548 homes shown in assessment documents [TBV]. A municipal spokesperson said the environmental impact assessment and the flood line had delayed the work [MS].
  • An environmental management programme prepared for the municipality in May 2022 describes about 548 residential erven on Erf 595 in north-west Greyton, for “low cost integrated housing to the beneficiaries of the local area” [IC].
  • On 10 July 2025 the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning granted the municipality environmental authorisation for housing on Erf 595, Heuwelkroon. The approved plan has 333 homes (a mix of GAP and subsidy housing), two community erven, and open space [IC].
  • The authorisation does not name Madiba Park [IC]. Whether Madiba Park households will be housed on Erf 595 is not confirmed [TBV].

What the public record does not yet show

  • The case number and terms of the 2008 High Court order.
  • Whether the Communal Property Association has been registered and the land transferred.
  • Whether Madiba Park was electrified.
  • Whether Madiba Park households are listed as beneficiaries of the Erf 595 housing, and when building will start.
  • Public statements on Madiba Park by residents bodies in Greyton or Heuwelkroon.

Accounts from those involved

This page will add the accounts of Madiba Park residents, the Transformasie Komitee, and Theewaterskloof Municipality, in their own words, once each has been asked.

Needs

None stated yet.

Offers

None stated yet.

How to get involved

If you live in Madiba Park, or represent a body named here, and want your account added, contact the moderators via How to Submit.

References

Court rulings:

Official publications:

News reports and statements:

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