"We want to stay together in peace and harmony with the Buys people, but the white farmers should leave the place," said the representative of the Serakalala tribe this week in Makhado (Louis Trichardt).

Advocate Chuene Rammutza, who represents the Serakalala claimants of land in the Buysdorp and Vivo area, arrived for a meeting between the Buys people, the Serakalala group and the Regional Land Claims Commissioner of Limpopo, Mr Mashile Mokono, on December 5 at the Makhado Municipal Library. The meeting was scheduled by the Regional Land Claims Commissioner but no agenda was supplied to either of the groups beforehand. The farmers of the Vivo Land Owners Forum were not invited.

In an interview prior to the meeting, Adv Rammutza alleged that the Buys clan belonged to the Serakalala tribe.

"The Buys are offshoots of this tribe; their ancestor, Coenraad de Buis, married a woman from the Serakalala tribe. The Buys are in a unique situation. We don’t want them to leave; they have nowhere to go. The Buys must reintegrate into the Serakalala tribe," Adv Rammutza said.

Mr Simeon Buys, Chairperson of the Buysdorp Management Committee, said after the meeting that, according to the history books, Coenraad de Buis did not marry a woman specifically of the Serakala tribe. He said that the Buys people are a tribe on their own.

The attorney for the Buys family, Ms Louise Dekker, said that Coenraad de Buis disappeared from the scene in 1900, long before the Serakalalas moved to the Buys land.

"It seemed that the meeting was scheduled in reaction to media coverage about the claim of the land of the Buys family," Ms Dekker said after the meeting.

"Mr Mokono exhorted everyone to be calm. He made mention of neither the content nor the feasibility of the claim," Ms Dekker said.

The procedure is that the government publishes a claim and in the 90-day period following the feasibility of the claim is established. The claim was gazetted on August 15. Only after the results of the feasibility study are known can a dispute be opened and then be heard in the Land Claims Court.

Buys said that the meeting proceeded in a peaceful way. "We look ahead to see what will happen. All we say for now is that we follow the procedure."

Buys said that he asked the commission in their own language for the claims letter.

It was significant that Mr Mokono was apparently very upset that the letter had not been made available to the owners of the land.

"It was said that the letter was available anytime and that the people of the commission should ensure that the owners get the letter right away," Mr Alec Smail, Vice-Chairperson of the Buys Committee said.

According to Smail, the advocate of the Serakalalas expressed his surprise that the white farmers were not there and Mr Mokono apparently explained that the meeting was specifically with the Buys people because of the media exposure.

"We are not at all perturbed by the request that the white people had to leave," said Mr Japie van der Goot, Chairperson of the Vivo Land Owners Forum. Adv Rammutza said before the meeting that the white farmers should be paid off and that they should go, since they are not indigenous members. Van der Goot said that politicians throw slogans around all the time like Kill the farmer kill the boer.

"We abide by the process. We are still awaiting the claims letter and all the answers to our questions, which our attorney has requested four times now. The commission has so far not scheduled any information meeting with us. Maybe they are avoiding us," Van der Goot said.

The regional land claims commission stated in an undated letter to the Zoutpansberger that negotiations will start immediately and all other processes will be followed to see to it that the land is restored to the community or they be given just and equitable redress.

The 90-day period expires on December 15.