Cape Town - Disagreements between the different groups representing the District Six claimants could further delay construction of houses in the area.
“We have to build unity within the groups, so that we can speak with one voice. It’s no longer about the groups, it’s about the people of District Six who have been dispossessed of their land,” Shahied Ajam, chairperson of the District Six working committee, said.
Ajam was speaking at a public meeting attended by 600 claimants in Salt River at the weekend.
“We have to create an economic vehicle in District Six, and make it a tourist hotspot. We will be having vigorous discussions with the groups,” Ajam said. Ajam also gave a stern warning to all the groups that if they don’t unite, it could be at their peril.
“My advice to those groups is to come to us, because they can be left out in the cold. Unity is crucial, because it is for the benefit of this community,” he said.
Ajam said he had invited members from the District Six Beneficiary Trust, Reference Group and Advocacy Group. But they are not convinced of Ajam’s predictions, and there seems to be little hope of reconciliation between the groups.
Said Dr Anwah Nagia, of the District Six Beneficiary Trust: “Unity is a matter of principle.”
“It’s about non-gentrification and not a quick deal. Ajam claimed he invited us, but we didn’t receive anything from him,” said Nagia, adding that they were not averse to unity.
“We are not against it at all, but like I said it’s a matter of principle,” he pointed out.
Tania Kleinhans-Cedras, of the District Six Property-Owners Advocacy Committee, said it was presumptuous for Ajam to say that the various groups could end up being left out in the cold.
“The process that Ajam is currently going through, we have exhausted already.
“We cannot give him a mandate, because we represent the property owners whose land claim still has to be processed. I feel that the fight for District Six has become highly politicised,” she said.
Kleinhans-Cedras said they were not opposed to forming a collective, but that there were a number of things to consider. “Stakeholders need to have legitimacy. I have met with Ajam before, but he wants all of us to fall under the (one) committee, which I refuse,” she said.
Judgment in the matter between the District Six Working Committee and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is weeks away.
The committee has been back and forth in court to hold the department accountable for its failure to provide restitution to District Six claimants since 1998. The former minister of rural development and land reform, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, was summoned to court last month. She expressed regret that they had not fully complied with the initial court order.
She said her department could only afford R351million a year for District Six while redevelopment would eventually cost R11billion, of which R2.4bn would be needed to provide housing for the 1000 remaining land claimants.
Nkoana-Mashabane asked for a further “three-months plus”, so that she could report back to the court.