Cape Town - After nearly 20 years of petitioning, praying and waiting, Abduragman Aziz received the most beautiful pre-birthday gift he could have asked for – the title deed to prime property in Simon’s Town.
On Thursday, a few weeks before Aziz turns 68, tears rolled down his face as he stood on his family’s land – valued at R1.1 million – and held the official title deed to erf 604 on Cotton Lane. He called it the most beautiful birthday present he could have asked for. “Man, I was waiting for this day. I didn’t know if it would come.”
Aziz was finally handed the title deed to a plot of land the apartheid government took from his father four decades ago.
In the spring of 1972, Aziz was about to turn 24, in his “prime years” as he says, when he and his parents, three brothers and two sisters were forced out of their Rickett’s Garden house off Simon’s Town’s Main Road and relocated to Grassy Park.
In 1996, Aziz’s eldest brother lodged a claim to the Lands Claims Commission to get not only the house back, but also a 392m² plot his father owned on the mountain.
In the years after, each of Aziz’s brothers passed away, but Aziz persisted in a painstakingly plodding process, which included verifying his family tree, until the city council last year approved the transfer of the prime plot overlooking the city, the sea and the harbour.
The blueprints for his father’s plans are unrecoverable.
“This land represents the sweat of my parents. We had to come back.
“The love is always there for Simon’s Town,” said Aziz.
Council members, mayor Patricia de Lille, and various family members hiked up the stony path that winds to the wooded erf for the brief ceremony on Thursday afternoon, passing luxury houses erected after the Aziz family left.
“Just think, 50 years ago I could run up and down this mountain,” said Aziz’s sister, Maaida Gallie, 62.
Handing over the deed, De Lille said she was honoured to be able to give back that which had been taken away.
“We cannot fully address everything that has happened but we can make some amends.”
The Aziz family is one of a handful of citizens who have successfully opted for and won land restitution, with most victims of forced relocation settling for monetary compensation.
Last November, the South African Human Rights Commission found there to be more than 4 000 outstanding land claims.
Aziz’s cousin, Fable Davis, said that after 20 years, he too was holding out for a claim to a piece of land opposite the city’s central Jubilee Square.
He said that in August last year he had been offered R186 000 in compensation by the government. “I hope it’s going to happen in my time.”
Although the Aziz family relished on Thursday’s victory, Aziz said he would still pursue restitution for his other land claim in Rickett’s Terrace.
Cape Argus