In the early 1970s, some 1500 inhabitants of the Riemvasmaak community who occupied and farmed an arid region covering approximately 74 000 hectares north of the Orange (Gariep) River were removed from the land in keeping with the apartheid state’s “black spot” policy. The land was subsequently divided between the South African Defence Force and the South African Parks Board. Those community members classified as Xhosa were sent to the Eastern Cape; those classified as coloured were dispersed to small towns in the Northern Cape; and those classified as Nama were sent to Namibia. In the early 1990s, the Legal Resources Centre acted for the community in claiming back the land. In February 1994 the Commission on Land Allocation recommended the return of the farm Riemvasmaak to the community, and a Trust was established to administer development.