Forty families who were forcefully removed from their land during apartheid were overjoyed when Mayor Patricia de Lille officially handed them two hectares of land in Rondebosch East yesterday.De Lille said the history of the land claim was “truly heartbreaking because it was a story that unfolded in so many lives, breaking up families and integrated neighbourhoods and scattering people all over the Cape Flats”.
As part of apartheid’s Group Areas Act, which declared some areas "whites only", thousands of black people were moved out of their homes in Rondebosch East and forced to live on the Cape Flats.
The beneficiaries of this land submitted their claim in 2001 and in 2008 the City sold the land to the Department of Land Affairs for restitution purposes.
One of the beneficiaries, Kenneth Abrahams, said the claimants had been waiting for more than 10 years for the Department of Land Affairs to transfer the land officially to the beneficiaries so that they could commence their development process and resettle on their land.
Abrahams said it had been provisionally agreed that 40 residential units would be built for the benefiting families, along with a private school and 465 social housing units for rental.
“It has been a long road and there is still a long way to go, but we are grateful with what we have achieved this far.”
Rebecca Ntlokwana, 68, said she was 17 when her family was moved to Gugulethu. She said patience and perseverance had kept her going all these years, while waiting for the land claim to be approved.
“We did not understand what was going on. What is worse [is] we were moved for the second time and told to move to the Eastern Cape from Gugulethu. It is a very sad story, but today we reap the rewards,” said Ntlokwana.
De Lille said: “It is in an indictment on all of us that restitution drags on for so many years and people have died while waiting to return to the land they were dispossessed of.”
She said the Group Areas Act was one of the apartheid government’s greatest weapons, used to cause division and create spatial divides, breaking up inclusive communities.
“Here families experienced a great amount of social disruption as a close-knit community was torn apart. When I look at the claimant list today, we see the evidence of how people were displaced and put all over the Cape Flats.
“We look at the names of the claimants and it is a reminder of what the good old days looked like in District Six and other areas with integrated communities where people of all races and religions lived together.
"Today, claimants now live in Southfield, Bonteheuwel, Gugulethu, Kuils River, Rylands and Grassy Park.”