OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Sunday 8.30PM.
A HISTORIC deal has been signed to facilitate the redevelopment of Cape Town’s District Six, razed by the apartheid government in the 1960s.
The agreement will pave the way for more than 45000 people, forcibly removed from their land and relocated on the barren Cape Flats under the Group Areas Act, to return to the suburb.
In terms of the new agreement, claimants who wish to return to District Six will first have to lay claim to their land. Once the required process is completed, they will be presented with title deeds.
Money for the redevelopment will be sourced from the government as well as from local and international donors.
Private land owners in the 45-hectare vacant area have been urged to release that land into the District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust so that more former inhabitants can be acommodated when they return.
Speaking at the signing ceremony at the District Six Museum near Parliament, Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom said the development is a beacon of hope and everyone should work towards its success to ensure the building of a united and integrated Cape Town city.
He said: “We cannot recreate the District Six of the past… but we can create a new District Six that celebrates our diversity, our commitment to non-racialism, equality and justice.”