The lengthy dispute over Block AK in Greyville is a battle that has been raging for almost 10 years, but may be resolved by early next year.
In August this year, the eThekwini municipality's executive committee approved the sale of the 5.5 hectares of Block AK property to the Land Claims Commission.
But claimants say the process has slowed down after that.
"They signed an agreement to sell and the last we heard of it is they were finalising the price," said Mohammed Vahed, secretary for the Block AK action committee.
But, that was three months ago.
"Our worry is that they are taking too long to respond. Quite a few of our claimants are elderly and have passed away. We've handed a proposal through to the commission, but have had no response. Previously some of our members suggested forced occupation of the land and if we don't see some progress, we may have to reconsider this," Vahed said.
Claimants have proposed that the original land be returned to them.
Alternatively, some say the land that has been developed should be refunded at R200 000 per plot, or claimants receive other vacant plots in Block AK.
Some of the claimants want to rebuild their homes, while others are considering entering into joint ventures and building blocks of flats with shops beneath them.
"This is still on the table. The commission has suggested development projects where we become involved in a consortium and become shareholders, but our people want either compensation or restoration.
"We are frustrated and want some action to take place," said Vahed.
Said Zwelihle Memela, spokesman for the land claims Commission: "The eThekwini executive has approved the sale of the land to the commission for R9.9 million, but we are still awaiting the approval from the minister of land affairs. Once approved, we will enter into a sale agreement with the unicity to buy the land.
"We as the commission have no scope to change the law in terms of the Restitution Act in terms of offering more than R50 000 per property per landowner as a standard settlement offer as approved by the minister and cabinet," he said.
"Block AK is one of the prioritised urban claims for the province and the matter will be resolved by the end of our financial year, once we receive approval from the minister," said Memela.
Block AK consists of 5.5 hectares of what is considered prime real estate in the Greyville area, opposite the Independent Newspapers building. Under the Group Areas Act of 1963, just over 300 properties in the vicinity were expropriated.
Since land restitution was introduced in the country in 1994 to redress the imbalances brought on by apartheid legislation, this particular row brought forward a total of 287 claims against the property.
The process to settle the matter has involved intense negotiation between all stakeholders; namely eThekwini Municipality, the land claims commission and the claimants of the property.
In April 2002 the claimants were offered a R50 000 settlement which was rejected by the majority. Thirty seven former owners, however, had opted for financial compensation, 20 for restoration and four for alternative land. The remaining claimants have not indicated their intentions regarding this agreement package.
Said Memela: "A total of 14 808 claims had been lodged with the KwaZulu-Natal land claims commission since the 1998 cut-off date. More than 11 000 of these were urban claims, of which just above 8 000 have been resolved to date with the cost in the region of about R400 million.
"To date, 7 162 urban claims have been settled at a cost of
R313 million involving 9 500 households. Twenty four rural community claims have been settled with a rough total of about 71 418 hectares restored, benefiting 3 196 households valued at R8 million," he said.
"A recent urban settlement was the Zanzibari dispute in the Bluff area, south of Durban, where 17 hectares were returned to former owners and we are currently helping them with capacity in the area. Other areas still in negotiation include Newlands East, Inanda and Bellair. These are part of the prioritised claims that will be settled in this financial year, like Block AK," said Memela. - The Mercury