The Developer Journal Issue 3 | Page 14

C I O N M V E M S U T N & I T Y d e L v I e V l I O N P G LAND REFORM AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT CAN GO HAND IN HAND Combining a successful land claim, community development, hard-nosed economic opportunity, responsible conservation ethics, and a fabulous tourist destination, Mdluli Safari Lodge is a win- win-win-winner. While land claims can be controversial – and even emotive – issue, it can, if well managed, create jobs and equitable economic opportunity. This is exactly what transpired with Mdluli, a one-of-its- kind Section 12J project situated in one of the most iconic wildlife areas in the world – the Kruger National Park. Some background Back in the bad old days in 1960s apartheid South Africa, the Mdluli community were forcibly removed from their land inside the borders of the Kruger National Park. But then, after the dawn of democracy in 1994, the Mdluli community instituted a land claim process to secure freehold title to the 850 hectares from which they had been alienated. It took a while – as these things do – but today the land is theirs, registered under the Mdluli Community Trust.