OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday
MORE than 1700 people who used to rent property in District Six decades ago have successfully claimed their land back, 34 years after being removed from the inner city by one of apartheid’s most hated laws, the Group Areas Act.
Settlement of the tenants’ claims means that at about 8 000 black and coloured people will move back to District Six, which was demolished in 1966 to make way for a whites-only suburb, the Cape Times reported.
About 60000 people were removed from the area and had their houses and shops razed to the ground.
The settlement, announced at a press conference in the district on Tuesday, follows seven years of negotiations between the District Six Beneficiary Trust, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Land Claims Commission, said the Cape Times.
Each of the 1 763 tenant claimants was backed by eight to 10 relatives who would also benefit from the restitution, said the chairman of the trust, Anwah Nagia.
Over 1000 of the tenant claimants, who represented between 8000 and 10000 people, have chosen to move back to the area with their families and to redevelop the district, said Nagia.
“We don’t necessarily want to emulate Victorian architecture. We might give District Six an indigenous South African look. But it’s not going to be a top-down decision. We will workshop with the claimants and present the different designs to them,” he said.
The others still had to decide between moving back or accepting compensation in cash – R17 500 each. Those who agreed to relocate to District Six would get an additional R9060 to help rebuild their homes.
The Cape Times also reported that the commissioner for land claims in the Western Cape, Alan Roberts, as saying tenant claimants were being encouraged to move back instead of taking compensation.
“This will lead to a wider impact in terms of the country’s agenda. It will bring black and coloured people back into the city and promote multi-culturalism. District Six, once the shame of the world, now stands as a beacon because of the success of the restitution process,” said Roberts.