The lobby group fighting to return evicted District Six residents back to the area has threatened court action if the restitution process is not adequately addressed.  

Despite years of continued discussion around land restitution, thousands of District Six claimants are yet to be remunerated and the building of homes has been stagnated. This week members of the District Six Working Committee (D6WC) hosted a public meeting to highlight concerns about delays in the restitution process. The committee has also called on government to prioritize the completion of the housing development.

Speaking to VOC’s Breakfast Beat, chairperson of D6WC, Shahied Ajam, explains that some 700 people calling for restitution and equitable redress for the people of District Six supported the D6WC’s tabling a letter via their attorneys, Norton Rose Fulbright Inc. advocate Naefa Kahn and advocate Geoff Budlender, calling for a settlement of all claims.

He says that given the fact that the Constitution of South Africa ensures that everyone be treated with equity and dignity, and ensures that every citizen has the right to property, constant delays in the process is unacceptable.

“We will have repeated demonstrations in District Six and in front Parliament while the legal processes is going on; we must not forget that approximately 1000 people from 1995 still need to be housed and in 2014 more than 200 people claimed,” he added.

Ajam asserts that the 42 hectares of vacant land allocated for the restitution by the City of Cape Town can easily house 5000 claimants, further questioning why Government and the Reference Group is “dragging their feet.”

Given frustration by claimants, he says that all three spheres of government need to table the concerns of the District Six claimants.

“We are looking for economic empowerment – restitution is not just about coming back to District Six. There has to be youth empower and we have to make the Good Hope Centre alive.”

Ajam says that the desired outcome of the legal process is firstly to call to the fore not only the issue of the 42 hectares of land up for restitution, but to highlight the that fact that 150 hectares of land was taken from the people of District Six, more than 50 percent of which he asserts is land on which the Cape Peninsula University of Technology stands (CPUT).

He notes that the D6WC is “going after” both the CPUT and others who purchased restitution land after 1994 and after the completion of the Constitution.

By accessing the land, which is located in close proximity to the Cape Town CBD, Ajam says that claimant’s, in particular the youth, will be given access to economic growth.

Ajam encourages anyone who wishes to understand the process of restitution to visit the offices of the D6WC.

VOC 91.3fm