After much delay, the occupants of phase three of the District Six redevelopment have returned to the historic area they were evicted from decades ago. Only the first 20 of the 108 beneficiary families received keys to new housing units in the central city neighbourhood they were forced to leave by apartheid laws.
The minister for agriculture, land reform and rural development, Thoko Didiza has welcomed the return and apologised to beneficiaries for delays she said were unavoidable.
108 families were initially set to return in April. 2021. It was then announced by the minister that the return of the claimants would take place between June 24 and July 16 the same year. The long-awaited day has now finally come for the first group.
“I am grateful to all stakeholders who made this historic day in the lives of these beneficiaries possible. This is a clear indication of all three spheres of government’s commitment to restore the dignity of the people of District 6,” Didiza said.
“I am also pleased that deliberations aimed at creating a safe environment for the returnees and facilitating social integration is ongoing,” said Didiza.
The department has communicated that the final return of the District Six Phase 3 beneficiaries will be done in phases until 25 May 2022.
“We would like to apologise to all the beneficiaries for the delays as they were unavoidable, as we also had wanted to ensure that we tick all the boxes before the final return, drawing from the lessons learnt from the previous phases” Didiza said.
Other issues being dealt with
In March this year, the department received the letters of occupancy from the City of Cape Town. Deliberations then took place regarding the manner and plan in which the return of the beneficiaries will be managed, the department said.
There are however still a number of family disputes and verification challenges. The department said that they were dealing with these.
The unlawful land occupation in parts of District Six have been one of the main concerns raised by locals. The department however said that it should be noted that in May 2021, the City of Cape Town took a final order before Judge Cloete in the Western Cape High Court, interdicting and restraining any person who intend to unlawfully occupy any part of District Six.
The relief granted to the City is far reaching in that it interdicts any new unlawful occupations from taking place on any part of the full extent of District Six, the department said.
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