The struggle to return
Ramaphosa, other leaders to attend memorial event
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato are expected to meet with District Six land claimants on Monday to discuss their return to a rebuilt neighbourhood in the next three years.
The District Six Working Committee (D6WC) will be hosting the group at the Castle of Good Hope in commemoration of the 1966 declaration of District 6 as a “whites only” area.
Shahied Ajam, the chairperson of the D6WC, said more than 500 dignitaries from all tiers of government, business, the judiciary and civil society were expected to attend the event to meet 300 of the current 3 500 District Six restitution claimants.
According to Ajam, the meeting followed a recent court victory in the Western Cape High Court by the D6WC and its claimants, to compel the government to produce a viable and sustainable development plan for District Six along with budgets and timelines, to the court by no later than February 26.
Construction is intended to be completed in three years.
“The place called District 6 endured much pain over the years, but she is ready for a revival.
“We are particularly deeply concerned about the plight of those who remain excluded from housing opportunities to which they are entitled in the inner part of the city,” said Ajam.
Ajam added that they were fighting for the rights of the 3500 restitution claimants from disadvantaged communities on the Cape Flats: Langa, Gugulethu, Bonteheuwel, Mitchells Plain, Retreat, Elsies River, Atlantis, Manenberg and Hanover Park.
Meanwhile, the District Six community