The District Six Working Committee plans to take the national government to court for the second time, accusing the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform of failing to produce a concrete plan for the development of the historical area. In the Western Cape High Court on the 26 November 2018, Judge Jody Kollapen ordered that a holistic plan be produced within a period of 3 months.

D6 Working committee chairperson Shaheed Ajam says while the department submitted a plan, it is not adequate. The group now plans to hold a community meeting at the Blackpool hall in Salt River at 2pm on Sunday 10th March to discuss the next steps.

“Instead, what was delivered to the court was a poor excuse for non-delivery. All government could offer as explanation for their failure to deliver the much-anticipated conceptual plan was the holiday breaks in mid-December 2018 and mid-January 2019. This is intolerable. The truth of the matter is that the government had many years to prepare their plans, because restitution and return to the land has been a burning issue for years,” said Ajam.

The D6WC mounted a class action suit against the government on behalf of the claimants last year. Advocate Geoff Budlender SC and attorney firm Norton Rose Fulbright are acting as pro bono legal counsel.

The Department of Rural Development said in its filing notice to the court that ”(i) the plan envisaged by the order has not been completed as consultations are ongoing and (ii) there was a period from mid-December 2018 to around mid-January 2019 during which consultations and further attendances in this matter were very difficult as most people were out of office and on holiday”.

According to Ajam, the department had since 2005 when the first holistic conceptual development framework plan together with a business model, special purpose vehicle and funding guideline were completed and presented to government. That same plan was updated in 2010 and then again in 2012. S

“So my question to government is: who’s fooling whom and why would you want to reinvent the wheel?”
Ajam said because of the non-compliance to the court order, not only was government “in direct breach of the court order but also in gross violation of its constitutional obligations”.

“The first pillar of the South African Constitution speaks directly to ‘respect for human dignity and equality’. Thus, in our opinion, this is a great crime against humanity and speaks for the depth of government’s impunity and apathy. Sadly, a total of 932 verified and validated claimants who submitted their claims between 1995 and 1998 are now going on 20 years in waiting to move back to District Six. Another 1700 who claimed between 2014 and 2016 are also still waiting for their claims to be validated. And who knows how many more will claim when the third round of restitution reopens this year. A great many claimants have passed away, bitterly disillusioned. Such suffering must now stop.”

Judge Jody Kollapen ruled in the class action group’s favour on 26 November 2018 when he declared that the South African government had violated the claimants’ constitutional rights by not providing adequate restitution. The Judge ordered the government to present a viable and sustainable development framework for District Six, supported by a dedicated budget, source of funding, specified timeframes and envisaged milestones by 26 February 2019.

Ajam said it was important to drive home the point that the restorative justice they were seeking was essentially about dignity restoration.

“We are seeking to holistically rehabilitate and reintegrate the dispossessed community into the fabric of society with emphasis on process. This means restoring their property loss, restoring their sense of security, their dignity, their sense of empowerment, their faith in democracy and justice, and the harmony and social support they crave to put their lives together.”