District Six land owners to commemorate lost land

By Ofentse Mokae
01 August 2009

The District Six Advocacy Committee will be holding a day of commemoration at the Oriental Plaza in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, to remember the homes in District Six that were lost during the group areas act.

They will also be protesting the development of District Six land without the consultation of the original title deed holders in District Six.

Tanya Kleinhans, the chairperson of the D6 advocacy committee says the original land owners will be laying wreaths at the site to highlight the flawed process of the re-development of the land.

“The original property owners were never included and consulted about the redevelopment of the land,” says Kleinhans.

The Oriental Plaza, which has been chosen as the site for the protest was sold last year for R93 million, the title deed holders however, were only compensated with R40 000 for their homes that were lost during the forced removals of the apartheid era.

Kleinhans says that they are also protesting the validity of the District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust, who are redeveloping the land.

She says the trust is made up of representatives of previous tenants of D6, the City of Cape Town, and the Land Claims Commission.