Bongani Mthethwa

A poverty-stricken rural community is the new part owner of a planned R10-billion coastal resort.

After a decade of bitter wrangling over a land claim, the Dube community on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast has secured a 20% stake in the luxury Blythedale Coastal Resort, to be built on their ancestral land.

Low-income earners and the wealthy will live together on the upmarket, 1000ha estate, sharing an 18-hole golf course and swimming pools.

Houses, ranging in price from R42000 to R20-million, will have similar decor and style, and entry-level units will be government subsidised.

Other proposed facilities include a shopping centre, wellness centre and several schools.

“We are so happy to be a part of this development... this is going to be a huge benefit... as a community we can now see where we’re going,” said community representative Musa Dube.

The community lodged a claim with the KwaZulu-Natal Land Claims Commission in 1998. Their forefathers had been removed from the land in the 1920s and 1930s to make way for sugarcane farmers.

The claim was declared valid, but it was disputed by the landowner, sugar baron Roger Stewart, who had already sold to property developers, the éLan Group.

The community rejected a R20-million offer by Stewart and éLan to buy them out, as well as an offer of a 10% share in a R200- million shopping complex and 100 start-up houses in the resort.

As part of a settlement reached in January, the state bought the land on behalf of the 687 families for R200-million, of which R50-million will be given to the community to develop itself.

Mark Taylor, éLan Group chairman, said the agreement was an example of what could be achieved if everyone worked towards a “common goal”.

The development was expected to create 80000 temporary jobs and 10000 permanent jobs, said Taylor.

Source: Sunday Times