Cape Town – On Friday the Land Claims Commission will begin the administrative process of engaging with the 108 District Six claimants that have been allocated housing.
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza announced on Thursday that this third phase of the District Six Redevelopment Project will see 108 dwellings being allocated to previously dispossessed people.
In previous phases, a total of 139 claimants who were dispossessed had received their new homes.
“Tomorrow the Land Claims Commission will begin the administrative process of engaging with the 108 claimants that have been allocated dwellings. These claimants will be informed of the process and they will be able to view their allocated dwellings. They will also be given an opportunity to accept or reject the dwellings,” said Didiza.
The process of returning to District Six for the 108 claimants will take place from June 24 to July 16.
A portion of the returning claimants are the originally dispossessed individuals who applied for special needs applications which were assessed by an independent selection panel, and there was an appeal process. The criteria included those who were originally dispossessed, the aged, those with ill health and those who are most impoverished.
The commission had received 34 appeals and the process had been concluded.
Other claimants to receive dwellings in this phase were selected from the official list in the order of the date of lodgment.
Since there are more than 1000 claimants who opted for dwellings, further redevelopment phases will be carried out, the department said.
The construction of the remaining units will be done in two major builds to be completed in August 2024, where all remaining claimants will be accommodated.
The dwellings in phase 3 consist of a mix of apartments and row houses that have been built along the original street network of District 6. The homes have a minimum of three bedrooms and are designed to cater for family units and allow for future expansion, to add more space by the users if required.
“This was done to encourage as many of the original dispossessed families to return to District 6 and to protect against ‘gentrification’. The residential units are supported with public spaces, paved streets, roads with street lighting and parking,” the department said.
The roads comprise a series of low traffic streets linking to adjacent access routes, and a new access route was constructed to link Hanover and Constitution streets.
The design has incorporated many of the original heritage elements of District Six to resonate with original character of this historic area, the department said.
Cape Times