Lawful Restoration & Tenure Security
The Constitution Is Our Road, Not Our Obstacle
The community seeks a lawful, negotiated, constitutionally grounded pathway toward secure tenure, resident protection, heritage recognition and accountable customary-community governance.
Constitutional Anchors
The Sections We Walk By
Tenure Security
A person or community whose tenure of land is legally insecure as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an Act of Parliament, to tenure which is legally secure or to comparable redress.
Protection from Arbitrary Eviction
No one may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances.
Culture and Community
Everyone has the right to participate in the cultural life of their choice, and persons belonging to cultural communities may not be denied the right to enjoy their culture and maintain cultural associations.
Access to Information
Everyone has the right of access to information held by the state and to information held by another person that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights.
Just Administrative Action
Everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.
Customary Governance
The institution, status and role of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised, subject to the Constitution — and legislation may provide a role for traditional leadership at local level.
The Process Architecture
The Rights and Process Framework
Alongside the Constitution, the community’s engagement is carried through the wider rights and process framework, referenced carefully and applied through authorised legal representatives:
- PAJA — the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act: lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair state action.
- POPIA — the Protection of Personal Information Act: disciplined, lawful handling of residents’ information.
- PIE — the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act: the lawful framework governing any question of eviction.
- IPILRA — the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act: protection of informal land rights pending permanent measures.
- NHRA — the National Heritage Resources Act: protection of heritage resources and living heritage.
- UNDRIP — the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: the international frame for Indigenous dignity, consultation and self-determined development.
Where We Stand
Our Position with DPWI
Public Position · Constructive Negotiation Since October 2025
Knoflokskraal remains committed to lawful, constructive engagement with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and all spheres of government. The community seeks a negotiated route toward secure tenure, social stability, resident protection, heritage recognition and accountable governance.
We acknowledge the concerns raised by the state regarding containment, social facilitation, illegal land sales, safety and service delivery. We also insist that all processes must comply with the Constitution, PAJA, POPIA, heritage law, meaningful consultation, and the public record that residents should not be forcefully removed and that a way forward must be agreed in consultation with Knoflokskraal residents.
We are not claimants excluded from a restitution window seeking a shortcut. We are a community negotiating, in good faith and through the legal processes of the State, for the tenure security the Constitution promises.
Lawful Since the Beginning
A Record of Lawful Conduct
Since 2020, the community’s path has run through the courts and Parliament, not around them. The interdict proceedings in the Western Cape High Court concerning the land at Knoflokskraal (Farms/Erven 335, 336 and 445, Grabouw) and the parliamentary record of 25–26 November 2022 frame the lawful boundaries within which the community engages — and the community’s commitment is to honour those boundaries while insisting they be honoured in return.
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure v All Those Unknown Persons Intending to Occupy or Occupying State Land Situated at Overberg, Caledon Forest (Case No. 19269/2020) (Western Cape Division, Cape Town).
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure v Those Persons Occupying Farm 336 and/or Farm 445 Grabouw (Case No. 6478/2021) (Western Cape Division, Cape Town).
Parliament of the Republic of South Africa. (2022, November 26). Committee and stakeholders resolve that residents will not be moved from Knoflokskraal land [Press release]. https://www.parliament.gov.za/press-releases/committee-and-stakeholders-resolve-residents-will-not-be-moved-knoflokskraal-land
The community’s intention is explicit: not to re-enter a land-claims process from which it was excluded, but to negotiate constructively — as it has done since October 2025 — toward tenure security with DPWI, through the legal processes of the State.
Land Ethic
Communal Property, Not Exclusive Individual Capture
The land is not approached as a commodity to be captured, divided, sold or owned by a few. The Customary Council’s restoration pathway is rooted in common custodianship, shared governance, household protection, ecological responsibility and intergenerational care.
Secure tenure is necessary. But tenure security must not become the destruction of community. The goal is not private enrichment through ancestral land. The goal is lawful protection, dignified residence, accountable land use, cultural repair and a future held in common.