EAST LONDON - The Kramer family in the Eastern Cape says it can no longer watch its loved ones dying without receiving what is rightfully owed to them.
In what has been described as one of the biggest land claims in the country, the family says it's yet to get clarity from the government as to when their land claim will be processed.
It's been 110 years since their forefathers were dispossessed of their land under Apartheid laws.
David Kramer, a family member, said, "I am the only one who's still alive on my family's side. My brothers and sisters have all passed on and even the friends I went to school with here are not here."
80-year-old Kramer says he may not live to see the day when his ancestral land is returned to his family.
He claims that his family was forcefully removed from an estimated 25,000 hectares of land during a land act that was introduced in 1913 that sought to disenfranchise people of colour from their right to live in areas that they previously owned.
Family spokesperson Liezel Flanagan said, "Damien Kramer our forefather was born in 1815 in the Langekloof area. He grew up in that area in 1864 he purchased his first two properties which were Klein River and Kleinfortuin. And then in 1879 he purchased his third property which forms part of the three erfs claim."
Damien Kramer was of German descent and it is stated that his Will and Testimony would be divided among 13 of his children that he had from his two coloured wives.
The Kramers say they are frustrated after they were told in 2019 that their land claim would be approved.
Flanagan said, "the initial submission of this claim was in December 1996 and we are already over 26 years. The phases are very slow the processes are very slow and there are only two factors that have to be proven by the restitution act number one the land was owned by Damien Kramer and illegal eviction and dispossession did take place."
The Eastern Cape's Regional Land Claims Commission Chief Director says they have been transparent with the family since this process began. He says they've had to follow due processes that involves a historian to assist in investigating the claim.
The Eastern Cape Regional Land Claims commissioner Zama Memela said, "the claim by the Kramer family is indeed too vast and too big and they are claiming the land that is currently used by various stakeholders and various current owners and the land is currently in the hands of the private people who have ownership of that land."
Memela also says they will provide the family feedback regarding the outcomes of a recent report.
The family says it has no intentions of chasing the current occupants off the land but instead it is prepared to become their landlords as some are providing key jobs for the poor in the mining and farming sectors.