MBOMBELA – The whole southern region of the Kruger National Park (KNP) has been included in a land claim by the Xistonga speaking N’waMhangane clan, which was evicted from the park in the 1950s.
The portion they are laying claim to, is the entire area from the Olifants River in the north to the Crocodile River in the south, the Lebombo Mountains and the Mozambican border in the east to the western border of the park.
Representatives of the clan said earlier that its history had been kept in limbo for decades and the claim for its ancestral land was the start to rectifying this.
The royal leader of the clan was Hosi N’waMhangane Charlie Sibuyi whose headmen – or indunas – were in charge of several residential areas in the park, during the mid-1900s.
They called the area KaNyamazane at the time.
The tribe is of Mozambican origin and lineage and according to notes by the late James Stevenson-Hamilton who was the first warden in the park, they were brave warriors and skilled hunters.
A lot of the elders shared their memories of being born in the park at places like Skukuza, Lower Sabie and Satara, among others.
The claim was officially filed at the offices of the Land Claims Commission in Mbombela earlier this week.
The chairman, Mr Moosa Makhanya, said this claim would dispel other false claims to the same land by its authenticity.
Spokesman for the KNP, Mr William Mabasa, said they had not yet been informed about the claim but he would welcome the clan to the fold, should they succeed.
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