CAPE TOWN – At the beginning of the 20th century, Cape Town’s first forced removals took place at Ndabeni, then called Uitvlugt. With Apartheid came the Group Areas Act, and the people at Ndabeni were again forcibly removed to Langa township.
Now, almost a decade after lodging their land claim and amid accusations and counter-accusations, hundreds of families are still waiting to return to their land, now neglected and used as a dump.
The problems faced by the Ndabeni claimants is a microcosm of the national challenges faced in the land restitution process — where poverty, inter-personal differences, bureaucracy and divergent interests compete against a backdrop of business speculators.
“We are frustrated with the slow progress of the project, particularly the lack of inter-governmental co-ordination and inclusiveness,” reads a June letter from the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust to Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.
In the letter, the Trust, which is to be the legally constituted body representing the claimants, also takes aim at the City of Cape Town, irrespective of the political leadership of the day, saying it was guilty of treating the claimants in a “contemptuous” manner.
This supposed attitude finds further expression when one looks at the Department of Public Works’ decision to leave claimants to their own devices when handing over the land. Claimants have to deal with the thorny issues of squatters, fires and illegal dumping on the site.
The South African Navy, which formerly owned the reclaimed land, also built a wall after the 2001 settlement, effectively encroaching on the claimants property.
In the 2001 settlement agreement, 54.8 hectares of the government-owned Wingfield land was handed over.
This agreement was not signed by the Democratic Alliance-led city at the time.
Now, the land forms an integral part of the city’s housing development initiative, with R29 million committed to upgrade the bulk sewer, stormwater, water and electrical infrastructure for the entire Wingfield land, of which the claimant land is a portion…
Read More - Citizen
Now, almost a decade after lodging their land claim and amid accusations and counter-accusations, hundreds of families are still waiting to return to their land, now neglected and used as a dump.
The problems faced by the Ndabeni claimants is a microcosm of the national challenges faced in the land restitution process — where poverty, inter-personal differences, bureaucracy and divergent interests compete against a backdrop of business speculators.
“We are frustrated with the slow progress of the project, particularly the lack of inter-governmental co-ordination and inclusiveness,” reads a June letter from the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust to Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.
In the letter, the Trust, which is to be the legally constituted body representing the claimants, also takes aim at the City of Cape Town, irrespective of the political leadership of the day, saying it was guilty of treating the claimants in a “contemptuous” manner.
This supposed attitude finds further expression when one looks at the Department of Public Works’ decision to leave claimants to their own devices when handing over the land. Claimants have to deal with the thorny issues of squatters, fires and illegal dumping on the site.
The South African Navy, which formerly owned the reclaimed land, also built a wall after the 2001 settlement, effectively encroaching on the claimants property.
In the 2001 settlement agreement, 54.8 hectares of the government-owned Wingfield land was handed over.
This agreement was not signed by the Democratic Alliance-led city at the time.
Now, the land forms an integral part of the city’s housing development initiative, with R29 million committed to upgrade the bulk sewer, stormwater, water and electrical infrastructure for the entire Wingfield land, of which the claimant land is a portion…
Read More - Citizen
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