[Image: District Six / Facebook]
Of the 1,165 housing units supposed to have been built and handed to former District Six residents, only 247 have been completed, leaving thousands of families who were removed in the 1960s and 1970s having to wait another three years.
According to Groundup, the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development has now stated that the remaining housing units will be completed by 2028, thirty years after former District Six residents first submitted their land claims.
However, the department has yet to secure the R2.4 billion required to complete the project.
District Six, once a thriving and diverse community, was declared a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act in 1966. Between 1968 and 1978, over 60,000 residents were forcibly removed, many of them relocated to ‘designated coloured areas’ on the Cape Flats.
Large chunks of the area remain undeveloped and deserted.
So far, 2,650 claimants have been awarded land rights. Of these, 1,485 chose financial compensation, while the remaining 1,165 opted to return after the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development promised to build new homes for those returning. However, only 247 families have received houses, leaving 918 families still waiting.
A further 749 people have submitted land claims during a new application window between 2014 and 2016, but due to the government’s ongoing failure to resolve all land claims submitted by the original 1998 deadline, the Land Claims Court has barred the department from processing the new claims.
As of July 2024, approximately 80,000 original claims from 1998 remained unresolved, blocking any progress on the newer submissions.
Zahrah Nordien, chair of the District Six Working Committee, says time is running out. “People are dying off. The people who really want to come back to District Six are all old people. What is the delay? People are frustrated.”
Timeline: Long wait for homecoming
- 1950: The Group Areas Act is enacted, laying the groundwork for racial segregation in urban areas.
- 1966: District Six is declared a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, leading to the forced removal of over 60,000 residents over the next ten years.
- 1968: Demolitions in District Six commence, destroying homes and businesses.
- 1998: The first deadline to submit land claims. More than 2,500 District Six families submitted their claims.
- 2008: Phase 1 of the redevelopment is completed with 24 claimants allocated homes, at a cost of R14.2-million.
- 2013: Phase 2 is completed with 115 claimants allocated homes, at a cost of R100.5 million.
- 2014-2016: A second window for lodging claims opens. 749 additional claims are lodged for District Six, but they cannot be considered because of a court order. There are still 80,000 land claims countrywide that need to be finalised before “new order” claims can be assessed.
- March 2019: The Land Claims Court issues a declaratory order against the state for failing in its constitutional obligation to provide restitution, compelling the Minister of Land Reform to formulate a redevelopment plan within three months.
- August 2019: The government fails to finish its redevelopment plan within three months of the original court order, and the Land Claims Court makes a second order, declaring that the Minister of Land Reform has failed to comply with the court order.
- December 2019: The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform finally submits its draft plan to build 954 homes.
- November 2020: The plan is finalised with input from claimants.
- 2021: Phase 3 of the development is completed at a cost of R178-million after years of delays. 108 claimants return to District Six.
- March 2025: The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development says construction of the remaining houses is ready to begin at an estimated cost of R2.4-billion, but funding still needs to be confirmed.
- November 2028: Estimated completion of the remaining 954 homes.
The people of District Six got screwed over badly by the old government, and it seems the new government is not doing much better.
