In what has been hailed as a major victory for four Olywenhout Farm families who faced being evicted, the property owners have agreed to build them formal structures.
The agreement between the families and current owners, CPH Developments, to build the families houses between Wellington and Paarl was made a high court order yesterday.
The overjoyed families, who have been living on the Wellington farm for decades, say the agreement will improve their living conditions and they wish other farm owners and landowners would follow suit.
Marchallene van der Westhuizen said: “We are excited about the settlement. We will be more excited when we see the changes and the houses that they will build for us. Everyone wants to have a new life.
“At the moment we are not happy with where we live because there are no basic services.The conditions are very bad because we have been living there for 15 years without water. We use the river to get water or ask the municipality to provide us with it,” she said.
The families’ chief negotiator, Nosey Pieterse, of the Rural Agricultural and Allied Workers Union, said he hoped the settlement would encourage other farm owners to come around the table.
“These families will be moving into houses that are for humans and that for me is the first victory. If you look at the houses they currently live in, you will be shocked to see the conditions they live under.
“The second victory is that these people will now be homeowners and their families will inherit these houses.”
Pieterse said they and the property owners had gone beyond the parameters of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (Esta) during negotiations.
“Only one person here has Esta rights and the other three do not have those rights but they have been included in this deal.
“I think it is important that we understand what can be achieved when we are sitting around the table and not looking at the negotiators trying to score a victory.
“The unfortunate thing for the current owner is that he inherited them (the families), even though he was not part of the creation of the situation,” said Pieterse.
In a statement, CPH Development lawyer Steph Grobler said: “We entered into settlement negotiations with the occupiers and their representative, Mr Nosey Pieterse, and their attorney of record, Mr Marius Abrahams.
“After approximately six months of groundwork we were able to reach a settlement agreement. The basis for the settlement was the relocation of the occupiers to new houses built by the company in an urban area in close proximity to the farm.
“The unique aspect of this agreement is that the company has agreed to transfer ownership to each respective head of household.”