Cape Town – Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille on Tuesday handed over title deeds to business owners from Langa, Guguletu and Nyanga areas, who under apartheid had been denied the opportunity to ever own the premises from which they operated.
Speaking to the so-called Lagunya business owners at the Gugulethu Sports Complex, De Lille said she was thrilled to see the business owners finally receive the title deeds to their properties.
She said property ownership was critical as it was transformational and “unlocks economic opportunities”.
Ownership meant business owners could now “take out loans, expand their businesses, and create more jobs”.
“This is creating sustainable economic development in the Lagunya area,” she said.
“I am humbled to be with you at the finish line of this long road of injustice which you travelled upon. Every single business owner here with us today has spent decades living a reality of unfairness,” De Lille said.
According to De Lille, the old iKapa Town Council had given businesses operating in the townships permits to lease their properties, but they were “never allowed to own them”.
In the City’s attempts to redress past injustices, De Lille said it was “important to create opportunities for those who were previously excluded so that they can be empowered to fight the legacy which still haunts them”.
She highlighted how the late Dr Kwezi Madikiza, who was one of the country’s “first black doctors to graduate from the Wits Medical School” returned to his community in Gugulethu to open a surgery, but passed away in 2009 without being “recognised as the official owner of the premises”.
De Lille said the Lagunya business owners had fought for their right to own their properties, and she commended them for their perseverance.
De Lille said the City had decided to “alienate over 100 properties in the Lagunya area and sell them to the tenants at the reduced rate of R20 per m²”.
She added that the City also subsidised the R3,092 transfer fees for each tenant and to date, had transferred 81 title deeeds, while the remaining 26 would be transferred soon.
“We will soon have empowered 109 Lagunya business owners,” De Lille said.
She said the City was committed to intensifying its efforts “to unlock these kinds of opportunities for even more businesses across the city”.
African News Agency