Hundreds of mataqali without land

About 200 mataqali (landowning units) in Fiji are without land, prompting the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) to intervene and reclaim land for their rightful owners.

TLTB chief executive officer Solomoni Nata said most of the affected mataqali were from Ba, Lomaiviti, Nadroga, Naitasiri, Ra, Serua and Tailevu.

“Those who have no land, we are authorised to provide them land,” he said.

“Some of the state land belongs to them. We are tapping into all state land that belongs to the iTaukei so it can be returned to them.”

Mr Nata said state land had already been provided to 55 clans, reducing the number of landless mataqali from 200 to 145.

He said the loss of land ownership was largely due to colonisation, tribal wars, migration of tribes and land sales before the Deed of Cession.

“Some have been going back to their place of origin through the traditional system of returning cara sala,” Mr Nata said.

“Some, when they return, find they have been eliminated from that village.”

Another concern, he said, was that some iTaukei were not listed under the mataqali land records in villages they had previously left.

“One of the colonial laws was that if a mataqali had fewer members, they would be combined with a larger mataqali,” Mr Nata said.

He said work was continuing to return unsurveyed land to the rightful mataqali.