Group Areas families get land back
CAPE TOWN Mayor Patricia de Lille said her administration was still trying to resolve six outstanding land claims on city-owned land before the end of her term in 2021.
Yesterday, eight families who were forcibly removed from Constantia when the Group Areas Act declared the suburb “whites-only” in 1961, finally returned to their land which is now worth R120 million.
The families had submitted their land claim 25 years ago, and De Lille said there had been delays in the past, caused by a multitude of conditions.
“As part of our Organisational Development and Transformation Plan, we are committed to dealing with the legacy of apartheid spatial planning. Since 2011, we have assisted in the transfer of 14 properties from the city for restitution purposes in areas such as Somerset West, Simon’s Town, Milnerton, Claremont and Dido Valley,” De Lille said yesterday.
“We are committed to redressing the injustices of the past by enabling residents to gain access to their dispossessed land as a result of racially discriminatory laws and practices in the past.”
Amina Afghan, 90, is one of the oldest claimants and was relieved that after more than 50 years, she could return to the area she was born and raised in.
Afghan lived in Kendal Road with her parents and eight siblings. “My parents and siblings are not around to witness this day, but I know they are excited,” Afghan said. She planned to leave the land to her children.
Anthony Hendricks, 73, lived in Ladies Mile Road and was relocated to Manenberg, where he still lives with his family.
Hendricks said his mother had lodged a claim 25 years ago, and has since died.
That he could complete the process on her behalf was a significant moment in his life, Hendricks added.
“I don’t have money to build a house on the land, but we as residents are speaking to a developer and will decide what our best options are,” he said.
The land that the claimants will receive is along Ladies Mile.
City ‘committed to redressing the injustices of the past’