Residents of District Six get a reprieve

THE prospect of living on the streets was unbearable for 79year-old Janet Bowers — one of the last of the original coloured residents of District Six in Cape Town.

Her tiny cottage, with five others in Searle Street, was sold for a total of R2.3-million last year.

Bower died of a stroke just days before residents were granted an interim interdict barring the Order of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Cape Province, from transferring the property to its new owner, Etienne du Toit.

The High Court in Cape Town ruled on the matter on Thursday.

Resident Séan Savage said sadly, Bowers would not share the residents’ relief. The night before Bowers died on April 19, he said, she was at his home in tears, concerned about having nowhere to go. She had moved to the cottage in 1978.

He said residents knew Thursday’s decision was just the start of a long court battle.

They are all devout Catholics and most have been living in the homes for decades, as the parish church had stepped in and prevented the apartheid regime from removing them under the Group Areas Act.

The cottages belong to the sisters, who said they have been operating at a “deficit” since 2012 and the cottages were a financial drain on their resources. They sold the homes in September last year to ease their financial predicament.