The District Six Community Forum says claimants are disgruntled about the increase in foreign nationals renting homes which could have been offered to other claimants still on the waiting list, as a result, current D6 home owners are reeling in the cash.

A recent newspaper report revealed that some claimants were angered by the presence of foreign nationals in the area, however, the Forum’s Asa Salie says these reports are in fact false.

“The problem stems from the lack of support amongst claimants who are already housed in D6 and others who are still waiting for their homes. Current home owners are offering rental to outside parties while claimants, yearning to move back into D6, are pleading for a chance to rent in the area until they receive their permanent homes,” Salie explained.

Many claimants on the waiting list are already senior citizens, simply in need of the home which they had been forcibly removed from during Apartheid. Most of those said claimants reside in so-called ‘township’ areas or are backyard dwellers in impoverished communities.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the District Six Working Committee, Shahied Ajam believes the entire restitution process in D6 needs to be re-visited and addressed. Ajam explained that the current inequality amongst claimants is resulting in a lot of uncertainty of their roles and responsibilities and has made way of a “whole lot of corruption”.

“There are claimants who are already residing in D6, they do not have the title deeds to the home as yet and may not receive it for a long time but yet, they are freely renting out their D6 homes, for a large sum of money each month to CPUT students, foreign nationals and to the upper class citizens who want to be closer to the City Centre. At the very same time, there are claimants dying, sick, living in dire conditions, waiting for their homes in D6. Those claimants think they are home owners but they are not until they receive the title deeds. The homes still belong to the Department of Land Reform. Current ‘home owners’ are throwing away the dignity and heritage of our D6 community,” Ajam continued.

We need to have this entire process re-looked at. We need to come together as claimants, create an even playing field because right now, those claimants living in the area offer no support to those still on the waiting list. As soon as the restitution process was re-opened to the public in 2014, claimants automatically were regarded as equal. Yet, this is not the case at the moment. This entire process was put together hastily, we now have people who are not well informed about their rights and privileges. True restitution must take place,” Ajam added.

In conclusion, Ajam’s parting words were that an immediate audit needs to be done on those current residents in D6. “Those people paid R250 000 to get to the top of the waiting list and others were pushed further to the bottom because they could not come up with the money. That in itself is unfair and not what the constitution dictates. That is why we find a lot of people unhappy with what is happening in D6 today,” Ajam explained. The District Six Working Committee has called for an AGM on Sunday to discuss ways forward. Ajam said another march to Parliament is on the cards. VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)