The cruel legacy of the Group Areas Act is still being resolved by Paarl communities
Marianne Merten
Despite the settlement in Paarl last weekend of several claims for compensation for homes lost to forced removals, the struggle for restitution continues.
The Paarl Land Claims Committee wants to meet authorities next week to discuss compensation for five churches that were also forced to move in the 1950s. And difficult negotiations lie ahead as 52 families have rejected compensation and insist on a restitution settlement for their properties.
Last Saturday 268 people who had lodged 62 claims related to 96 properties were paid out just over R3,8-million. This leaves 95 of the 377 claims outstanding.
Committee chair John Martin is keen to finalise the process, which started in 1995. Many of the claimants are elderly, he said, citing the death last weekend of one of the “sisters” (an elderly woman) awaiting compensation.
“I took the cash offer [of R40 000 for each erven]. It was a quick fix. I saw that the rate at which they were handling claims, it would take years,” said Martin (64), who suffers from cancer. “I think it paid off for the people. I think it paid off for me because I could do something for the community.”
Martin’s father had invested all his spare cash into nine properties, thinking the rentals would provide a pension during his old age. However, under the Group Areas Act he lost all his properties and the minimal compensation was just enough to build a house for his family after the forced removals. Thirteen months later he died of a heart attack.
“There are many stories like that of people who couldn’t take the pain of being moved from a place they thought was safe.”
Implementation of the Group Areas Act with the Berg river as a natural divide between the now racially segregated communities meant African residents were removed to an emergency transit camp called Langabuya. From there they were either deported to the now defunct homelands or moved to Mbekweni, a township on the edges of Paarl.
For many coloured families, the forced removals caused particular pain. In the late Fifties North Paarl was initially designated as a coloured area, and many families improved their homes in the subsequent feeling of security that the area would not be affected by the forced removals. However, three years later the area was designated as white and all efforts to reverse that decision came to naught.