Knoflokskraal is a settlement that has grown significantly since its inception in 2020, with homes, livestock farms, and vegetable gardens spread across 1,800 hectares. The settlement is a self-sustaining Khoisan community, claiming ancestral connections to the land. However, the land is owned by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, which has obtained a court order banning further settlement. The settlement faces an uncertain future as the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is still looking at options for the land. The community has grown to an estimated 4,000 structures and between 15,000 and 20,000 people, with the government spending R41.4 million on the occupation. The government plans to submit a court application to contain the occupation, which has been a point of contention since the initial legal battles. The community's future is uncertain, with the government's plans for the land and the community's circumstances being a point of ongoing discussion and legal action.
The Khoisan settlement of Knoflokskraal is growing and expanding with small-scale farming.
But the land belongs to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, which has already obtained a court order banning further settlement.
The Department says it is “still looking” at options for the land.
Meanwhile the settlement lacks water. Theewaterskloof Municipality has been providing some water as “a humanitarian act”, but residents say it is not enough.
Families occupying land near Grabouw face an uncertain future as the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), which owns the land, is “still looking at all of its options”.
The area now known as Knoflokskraal was first occupied in 2020 by people who wanted to establish a self-sustaining Khoisan community in the Elgin Valley. The settlement has grown, with homes, livestock farms and vegetable gardens spread across 1,800 hectares.
Small farmer Benjamin September says when he moved to Knoflokskraal from Grabouw, it was “just bush”.
“We are making something out of nothing,” he says. September says it was his dream to have a piece of land to farm."
