Tana Baru auction canned
Community pressure thwarts bid to sell Bo-Kaap cemetery
THE AUCTION of the historic Tana Baru cemetery in Bo-Kaap has been cancelled due to public pressure, but families who own parts of the cemetery still want to sell the land. ClareMart auction house yesterday cancelled its proposed June 27 auction of the land for a starting price of R20 million. It said in a statement this was because the land was “under dispute”.
Cassiem Abdullah, one of the siblings who inherited the land, was elated at the news that the sale has been cancelled. He has opposed it for decades. But his sister, Faeeza Manan, who lives in Mitchells Plain, said the majority of the siblings were planning to go ahead with the sale.
“It’s still for sale, with or without his (Abdullah’s) input. He’s the only one who doesn’t want to sell. Everybody else signed with the attorney,” said Manan.
“Our lawyers are working on it. It’s still on. If they don’t want us to have that property sold, then I’ll tell squatters to stay on there,” she said defiantly. She added: “This isn’t Tana Baru property. Our property is adjacent to the Tana Baru.”
The Tana Baru Trust, a non-profit organisation established to preserve the site, said it had previously talked to the families about purchasing the land.
Manan said their family had refused the trust’s offer. “They offered us R2m two years ago. That’s not on. We didn’t take that deal,” she said.
Trust secretary Imraan Solomons said yesterday it had “always been a challenge” to negotiate with the families.
“Their price has been R20m. We can’t come up with that kind of money. We rely on donors,” he said. “No sane person will pay R20m for that. Our position is clear. We don’t want to see it developed and it has no commercial value.”
Solomons said the trust had approached the City of Cape Town to have the cemetery declared a heritage site to protect it from developers and sale. “We want to do that with provincial and national government too, but these things take time. The ultimate protection is for the trust to own the land,” he said.
ClareMart executive director Andrew Koch said cancelling their public auction of “the site of the oldest Muslim cemetery in South Africa” was the responsible thing to do.
ClareMart said it had advised the sellers to “re-engage with the community regarding the historical and religious significance of the land and its ownership”.
Koch said: “ClareMart was instructed to proceed to auction but was not aware of the ongoing dispute regarding the future of the land, being a part of the cemetery and of significance to the community.”
ClareMart’s advertisement of the auction does indicate though that “buyers are advised to acquaint themselves with the historical/heritage nature of the land and the burial sites”. Koch said they contacted “Igshaan Higgins, who represents Bo-Kaap Youth led by Adnaan Osman, a civic organisation focused on the heritage and future of the area, and informed them of the intention to cancel the auction, which was welcomed by the organisation”.