This is Lohatla. 135, 000 hectares of Kalahari in the Northern Cape. All this land belongs to the SANDF. It is one of the worlds largest battle schools and it is here that the very latest weapons are tested.
The army is proud of the battle school they say its a big source of revenue theres just one problem. In the middle of the base is an area called the Khosis or the Free Area.
It is home to about 300 communal farmers who have resisted all attempts to remove them from their land.
Camped on the outskirts of the base are some of the Tswana people who once lived on the army land.
They were forcibly moved to make way for the army. Eleven years after they successfully lodged their land claim, they are still waiting.
They have been here since November and they say they wont leave until they get land.
Campers sing, ki batla lefatsi.
Old lady. Our fathers fought for this land and we will do so until our death.
The military is the third largest landowner in the country. But the vast spaces of Lohatla have been contaminated with the debris of army exercises, making it unfit for human habitation.
Ups Terror: As a govt cant have people living where long distance weapons are being tested.
Ups Maria Maasdorp: they say so, but they are the ones who make it unsafe.
Maria Maasdorp is a subsistence farmer. She and her family live in the old Tswana school, in the middle of the army base. She has been in the Khosis since 1970.
Maria: we live in peace here, we live from the land.
Laxey goats eat stones
MAP
In 1976 the Tswana people - who lived on 62,000 hectares in what is now the battle school - were moved into the Bantustan known as Bophutatswana almost two hours away by dusty dirt road. They were discarded in five desolate villages far away from the mines and towns on the outskirts of the battle school.
Elizabeth Sibanda (was one of those forcibly removed, she ) is a Laxey community leader.
Elizabeth: our men have left us, we are dying here each week we bury people..
Laxey church
The village people are forced to bury their dead on the barren land of exile where they were dumped 27 years ago. These are poor and temporary places where theres a funeral every weekend.
Church dirge.
Back in the Khosis, people are fighting for the right to be buried on the land where they were born.
Khosis church
The faces of the Khosis.
Before apartheid intervened, the land was home to a mixed community. For more than 130 years they lived under the rule of the Tswana chiefs. Other races were welcome. The Tswana and Griqua intermarried. They say life was peaceful and prosperous then.
That was until the Tswana people were moved to desert villages Like this one where the Gatlhose Chief Holele now lives with his family.
Chief _ there was a spring, we grew vegetables
Antie Lena: we farmed beautifully
Before the removal, the community had a police station, a church, a clinic, shops and schools.
Ups school .water
Joseph I have a right to this kland. I have a voice
Joseph Free was born at Gatlhose, now called Khosis. He leads the group that refuses to leave the land of their birth. For many years he defied the apartheid government and its army. Nine years into democracy, he is still fighting.
Holele, he is our hero.
Bonniface Masiane was born where the battle school headquarters is now. His tribe the Maremane used to live there.
Bonniface, life then
Timelapse .darkness comes in.
Black farming communities, especially mixed ones, were not welcome in Apartheid South Africa. The native reserves of Gatlhose and Maremane were branded a black spot.
In 1976 the Tswana people were loaded onto trucks and driven for hours to five barren villages in Boputatswana.
The so-called coloureds by virtue of their status under the group areas act - were allowed to stay restricted to 14,000 hectares in the middle of the base.
Holele: we asked if there was a god.
PW Botha established his Battle School the land would never be the same again
ADBREAK__________
Since the forced removal in 1977 the Tswana people have lived in five isolated villages now in the North West province.
Life in the villages is not easy. There are no clinics, no phones and there is no work. Water is expensive and scarce. A trip to the doctor in the nearest town of Kuruman costs 700 rand return.
What is remarkable here is the tenacity of the human spirit people make a life in the most oppressive circumstances.
Young girl: our fathers told us about a place
Houses eaten by sand
Donkeys
Joseph we are talking about water and land.
The eye
The army doesnt want to conduct play-play war when there are civilians and animals around. In 1992, 90% of the coloured community was moved - to Jenn Haven, an area south of the battle school
Leach Maboers: their intimidation.
Despite the sounds and the dangers of war games being around them, a small group led by Joseph Free, dug their heels in. For 27 years the army has been forced to conduct its exercises around them.
Joseph: This is the best land in the Northern Cape
Well digging
The Khosis is the only part of the battle school that is uncontaminated. About ten people have died from picking up live ammunition the people here say they can live with the danger.
Alfie this is my land, Ill fight for it, they can come with their canons, Im staying.
For 11 years, the claimants, as three separate communities, have been waiting for their land. They successfully lodged their claim under FW de Klerks government. Eleven years and many protests later the army continues to contaminate their land . and they are no closer to being compensated for their loss.
Thoko and Terror
In the year 2000 the ministers of land and defence met the communities. They persuaded them to accept alternative land because the battle school is a state asset. (They were given 24 million rand to buy land )
Holele. We are saying
A task team was established to identify and buy farms bordering the battle school. There were few willing sellers. Those that were found backed out when the process dragged on for three years. (without closure.)
Louis : someone comes to your farm
Louis Hauman farms on 16,000 hectares -, thats 2000 more hectares than the land the 28 families of the Khosis live on. He speaks for the farmers in the Kuruman area.
Louis: there will be a fight.
According to Louis Hauman, the land the claimants were given was as good, if not better than the land they had at Lohatla. He says it was destroyed by communal farming.
Louis they have destroyed it through bad farming practice
Orapeleng Oganne is a land rights activist with ANCRA - an NGO helping the claimants. The SANDF refuses to give an inch and attempts to find alternative land have stalled. He says expropriation is the only way.
Elizabeth broken promises
In November last year the Land Claims Court ruled that the battle school is a national asset. Not one hectare will be returned to the claimants. They have leave to appeal. If they lose the Khosis people will be evicted.
Ups Joseph: apartheid is over how can they make me get out. This is a forced removal.
The Tswana claimants are camping outside the school until they get land. They are in and out of court for trespassing on military ground ironic, since no-one disputes the land belongs to them.
Rapi: people getting frustrated, they will take the land
Lena: God made the land. without lawyers and generals
The army is proud of the battle school they say its a big source of revenue theres just one problem. In the middle of the base is an area called the Khosis or the Free Area.
It is home to about 300 communal farmers who have resisted all attempts to remove them from their land.
Camped on the outskirts of the base are some of the Tswana people who once lived on the army land.
They were forcibly moved to make way for the army. Eleven years after they successfully lodged their land claim, they are still waiting.
They have been here since November and they say they wont leave until they get land.
Campers sing, ki batla lefatsi.
Old lady. Our fathers fought for this land and we will do so until our death.
The military is the third largest landowner in the country. But the vast spaces of Lohatla have been contaminated with the debris of army exercises, making it unfit for human habitation.
Ups Terror: As a govt cant have people living where long distance weapons are being tested.
Ups Maria Maasdorp: they say so, but they are the ones who make it unsafe.
Maria Maasdorp is a subsistence farmer. She and her family live in the old Tswana school, in the middle of the army base. She has been in the Khosis since 1970.
Maria: we live in peace here, we live from the land.
Laxey goats eat stones
MAP
In 1976 the Tswana people - who lived on 62,000 hectares in what is now the battle school - were moved into the Bantustan known as Bophutatswana almost two hours away by dusty dirt road. They were discarded in five desolate villages far away from the mines and towns on the outskirts of the battle school.
Elizabeth Sibanda (was one of those forcibly removed, she ) is a Laxey community leader.
Elizabeth: our men have left us, we are dying here each week we bury people..
Laxey church
The village people are forced to bury their dead on the barren land of exile where they were dumped 27 years ago. These are poor and temporary places where theres a funeral every weekend.
Church dirge.
Back in the Khosis, people are fighting for the right to be buried on the land where they were born.
Khosis church
The faces of the Khosis.
Before apartheid intervened, the land was home to a mixed community. For more than 130 years they lived under the rule of the Tswana chiefs. Other races were welcome. The Tswana and Griqua intermarried. They say life was peaceful and prosperous then.
That was until the Tswana people were moved to desert villages Like this one where the Gatlhose Chief Holele now lives with his family.
Chief _ there was a spring, we grew vegetables
Antie Lena: we farmed beautifully
Before the removal, the community had a police station, a church, a clinic, shops and schools.
Ups school .water
Joseph I have a right to this kland. I have a voice
Joseph Free was born at Gatlhose, now called Khosis. He leads the group that refuses to leave the land of their birth. For many years he defied the apartheid government and its army. Nine years into democracy, he is still fighting.
Holele, he is our hero.
Bonniface Masiane was born where the battle school headquarters is now. His tribe the Maremane used to live there.
Bonniface, life then
Timelapse .darkness comes in.
Black farming communities, especially mixed ones, were not welcome in Apartheid South Africa. The native reserves of Gatlhose and Maremane were branded a black spot.
In 1976 the Tswana people were loaded onto trucks and driven for hours to five barren villages in Boputatswana.
The so-called coloureds by virtue of their status under the group areas act - were allowed to stay restricted to 14,000 hectares in the middle of the base.
Holele: we asked if there was a god.
PW Botha established his Battle School the land would never be the same again
ADBREAK__________
Since the forced removal in 1977 the Tswana people have lived in five isolated villages now in the North West province.
Life in the villages is not easy. There are no clinics, no phones and there is no work. Water is expensive and scarce. A trip to the doctor in the nearest town of Kuruman costs 700 rand return.
What is remarkable here is the tenacity of the human spirit people make a life in the most oppressive circumstances.
Young girl: our fathers told us about a place
Houses eaten by sand
Donkeys
Joseph we are talking about water and land.
The eye
The army doesnt want to conduct play-play war when there are civilians and animals around. In 1992, 90% of the coloured community was moved - to Jenn Haven, an area south of the battle school
Leach Maboers: their intimidation.
Despite the sounds and the dangers of war games being around them, a small group led by Joseph Free, dug their heels in. For 27 years the army has been forced to conduct its exercises around them.
Joseph: This is the best land in the Northern Cape
Well digging
The Khosis is the only part of the battle school that is uncontaminated. About ten people have died from picking up live ammunition the people here say they can live with the danger.
Alfie this is my land, Ill fight for it, they can come with their canons, Im staying.
For 11 years, the claimants, as three separate communities, have been waiting for their land. They successfully lodged their claim under FW de Klerks government. Eleven years and many protests later the army continues to contaminate their land . and they are no closer to being compensated for their loss.
Thoko and Terror
In the year 2000 the ministers of land and defence met the communities. They persuaded them to accept alternative land because the battle school is a state asset. (They were given 24 million rand to buy land )
Holele. We are saying
A task team was established to identify and buy farms bordering the battle school. There were few willing sellers. Those that were found backed out when the process dragged on for three years. (without closure.)
Louis : someone comes to your farm
Louis Hauman farms on 16,000 hectares -, thats 2000 more hectares than the land the 28 families of the Khosis live on. He speaks for the farmers in the Kuruman area.
Louis: there will be a fight.
According to Louis Hauman, the land the claimants were given was as good, if not better than the land they had at Lohatla. He says it was destroyed by communal farming.
Louis they have destroyed it through bad farming practice
Orapeleng Oganne is a land rights activist with ANCRA - an NGO helping the claimants. The SANDF refuses to give an inch and attempts to find alternative land have stalled. He says expropriation is the only way.
Elizabeth broken promises
In November last year the Land Claims Court ruled that the battle school is a national asset. Not one hectare will be returned to the claimants. They have leave to appeal. If they lose the Khosis people will be evicted.
Ups Joseph: apartheid is over how can they make me get out. This is a forced removal.
The Tswana claimants are camping outside the school until they get land. They are in and out of court for trespassing on military ground ironic, since no-one disputes the land belongs to them.
Rapi: people getting frustrated, they will take the land
Lena: God made the land. without lawyers and generals