Cape Times

Abraham Wollach, far left, visits the farm his family once owned with (from left) State attorney Karrisha Pillay, Acting Judge Steve Kahanovitz, Leslie Wacks, advocate Joel Krige and assessor Mike Gibbons. Picture: DAVID RITCHIE

It was designed to discourage people of colour from living in certain affluent areas earmarked for white people, but now the Group Areas Act has been turned on its head with a white man claiming compensation for land he says his family was “forced” to sell under the act at the time.

Abraham Wollach, 72, from Green Point has taken his case to the Land Claims Court, with the national government, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, the Commission on Land Rights and the regional land claims commissioner listed as defendants. He is claiming more than R28 million in compensation, saying the value of the land was not taken into account when it was sold.

The 1 500-hectare property – which was once a dairy farm – now comprises large parts of Atlantis, which was established in 1977. The area includes residential housing.

According to court papers, Wollach’s case is that the property had been owned by Hartebeeskraal Farms at the time.

Wollach’s father, Lazarus Wollach, was the majority shareholder.

His father bought the property in October 1968 before it was bought by the apartheid government’s Community Development Board for R475 627 five years later because the area had been declared for “coloureds”.

“It therefore became unlawful for the plaintiff’s father to own property there, as a person who had been classified as white,” the court papers said.

On Wednesday, Wollach, along with his advocate Joel Krige, took Acting Judge Steve Kahanovitz on an inspection in loco at the farm.

During the inspection, Wollach vividly recalled the layout of the farm, in which he mentioned dams, milking sheds and barns. Judge Kahanovitz was shown what was left of a now dried-out dam which had since made way for housing. About a quarter of the dam remains today.

The property was converted into the Hartebeeskraal Community Centre.

The border of the property ran along the Old Darling Road, with trees lining either side, and stretched towards Dassenberg Drive.

Krige submits that a number of factors needed to be taken into account, such as inflation, and the present day value of the land was R28 470 775. Court papers included historical valuation reports in which the value of the property at the time of the act was at least R848 100.

Wollach also wants the government to pay his legal costs.

The case has since been postponed to allow for experts to evaluate the property.

Krige said the experts would determine whether just and equitable compensation was given for the property. - Cape Times

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za