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More than 30 black farmers in Tafelkop, Limpopo, were handed title deeds by President Cyril Ramaphosa after 25 years of struggling to own the farms. The handover was part of the government's land redistribution program. The farms total 189 hectares and are worth R25m, notes a News24 report. The area has a history of forceful dispossession dating back to 1948 after the end of World War II. White soldiers returning from war were awarded the pieces of land in the area but left just before the dawn of democracy in 1994 and the land was left under the administrator Andre Stals.
In April 1994, local black farmers registered the Tafelkop Farmers Association which investigated the ownership of the land. It was found that the Department of Public Works was the custodian. The more than 30 black farmers were allowed to farm on a lease basis for over 25 years – until Saturday, when the title deeds were handed over. It was against this background that Ramaphosa, in his address, described the occasion as a ‘milestone in a long journey’.