Justice for dispossessed families at last
“WE WERE scared when we lived in the block of flats, we used to stand by the window, and we wished someone would come and take us back to Kirstenbosch.”
This was how Ann Ntebe – the first chairperson of the Protea Village Action Committee, which spearheaded the fight for restitution in Bishopscourt – remembered her longing to go back home at the age of 12.
Yesterday, Ntebe was among 86 claimant families that Mayor Patricia de Lille handed back 8.5 hectares, valued at R100 million, of prime land in Bishopscourt.
The dispossessed families were moved to areas such as Lotus River, Grassy Park, Steenberg and Manenberg between 1966 and 1969 by the apartheid government.
The claimants submitted their restitution claim in 1995 and have followed a long road to having the land transferred back to the Protea Village community.
The group encountered many setbacks, including resistance from some of the local community who took the claimants to court, essentially asking that this land remain public open space.
The court, however, ruled in favour of the claimants.
“I lived at number 2, Kirstenbosch Drive, down the road here,” said Ntebe, who was moved to Heideveld along with her family.
“My grandpa was one of the youth that carried the stones from the river to build that stone church.
“We went to school next to the church. The cemetery nearby – my mom was one of the last in our family to be buried there. I would love to be buried here, not Maitland, buried here in that cemetery,” she said.
She described the removals as “painful” emotionally and psychologically.
Ntebe said she had not once thought of giving up the fight for restitution.
“This is an acknowledgment that we are here. I lived here, I’m very proud,” she said.
De Lille said she knew the claimants’ one wish was to move into their homes on this land.
“It has been a long road and your hopes have been raised many times, but we are forging ahead to ensure that the rightful owners return to their land.
“We have completed many restitution cases in the past six years from Constantia to Somerset West and Simon’s Town. In the coming months, we will be finalising the transfer of land in Plumstead, Crawford and Heideveld to claimants.”