Melanie Gosling
AFTER a 13-year long saga, 34 people whose families were evicted from Tramway Road, Sea Point, more than 50 years ago because of the Group Areas Act, are to be paid out some of the money from the sale of the land.
At a council meeting on Wednesday, the city agreed to a request from the Tramway Road Community Trust to release funds from the sale of the property. An interim amount of R750 000 will be given to each of the 34 beneficiaries of the land restitution claim.
The families were forcibly moved from Tramway Road between 1959 and 1961. In 1964, the city bought the land and the cottages where they had lived were demolished.
Decades later, families of those who had been evicted formed the Tramway Community Trust and instituted a land claim on the prime 7 546m² piece of land, erf 1 225.
In 2001 the city transferred the land to the trust at no cost, but with the condition that if the trust did not develop the land, it would revert to the city.
Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said in the council meeting that the city had later agreed to dispense with the requirement that it be returned to it, “but put in steps to protect the interests of the beneficiaries”.
This was followed by a series of development deals over more than a decade that did not get off the ground – while the trust ran up bills with Investec, architects and lawyers.
Earlier this year, the trust decided to sell its prime land, the city agreed to the sale, and the land was bought by Spear Property Trust for R51 million.
The city required that the money from the sale be held by ENSafrica attorneys.
Neilson told the council that Investec had a bond on the property, “so had first call” on the sale. Other claims, such as those with architects, had been negotiated in settlements.
In September, the trust asked the city to allow ENSafrica attorneys to make an interim payment of R750 000 to each of the 34 beneficiaries.
The trust said in a letter to the city that the trustees were under “tremendous pressure to make at least this interim distribution” soon, because many of the beneficiaries were old and in financial difficulties.
However, Neilson said the city then got a letter from a lawyer representing eight of the beneficiaries who had taken legal action over an internal dispute.
The lawyer asked that the city hold off on a decision until the outcome of the court case.
“The eight in dispute took the matter to court and the judge threw it out… I see no reason not to agree to a payout. It’s been done with proper due process. There is sufficient funding,” Neilson said.
All 34 would get the payout, including those eight who were in dispute.
Opposition parties complained that they had not had enough time to study the proposal because the papers had been delivered late, and the ANC had walked out of the meeting.