Land me a hand: Sick ouma sukkeling to get her dues from claim
BATTLE: Margaret Johnson, 75, is desperate to get money from a land claim to help assist with her stomach cancer treatment.
A 75-year-old ouma from Woodlands, Mitchells Plain says she has been battling for years to get her fair share of money she was due to receive from a land claim.
Margaret Johnson says life had been throwing her curve ball after curve ball, all while fighting for what is rightfully hers.
The pensioner is understood to have inherited money left over from a land claim in Knysna made 18 years ago by her parents.
The property, which it said to boast two houses on its plot, has become the centre of a tug of war.
“The Rural Claims Department bought the property from my parents for
R120 000, but in May when I was called in to sign papers I was told they can only pay me R19 000 of the money because they didn’t have enough to pay me out in full,” Johnson explained.
Lying on her couch, propped up by pillows, she pointed to her stomach and said: “Recently I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and would need the money to travel to and from the hospital for treatment.
“I am a pensioner and many times we don’t even have money for food. I tried explaining this to them but they wouldn’t listen. I am just tired of fighting.”
Johnson said she desperately had to reach out for assistance.
“It just came to the point where I became despondent, so I asked community activist Natalie Bent for help.”
Bent, who was a ward councillor, told the Daily Voice that Johnson informed her she was still waiting for her geld because monies were allegedly paid out to the wrong beneficiaries.
“This has been coming on since I was in office and I just feel this woman deserves what is rightfully hers, what her parents worked so hard for,” she said.
Bent approached attorney Monique Carstens, who will be looking into the matter.
Carstens added: “I want to know why the government doesn’t have the money she inherited? I want to know why 80% of that money is not available, why paper trails can’t be given to Mrs Johnson?
“If that money belongs to her then the money belongs to her, except if there’s a very specific legal claim on the money, which I cannot see.
“I would like to know whether this is a complete private plot or whether it’s a development, because then the government would have been making their money over and over again.”
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, acknowledged an enquiry from the Voice, but said it would only be able to respond to the allegations and investigate further in early January.