There’s been yet another setback in the restitution plan for 108 District Six claimants who were supposed to receive the keys to their homes.
EWN reported on Monday April 5 that the District Six working committee confirmed that government informed them that the handing over of the homes would now be at the end of May and not this month as previously planned.
Fifty-five years ago, thousands of people were forcefully removed from the historic area in Cape Town when the neighbourhood was declared a “whites only” area under the Apartheid Group Areas Act.
Co-chairperson of the District Six working committee, Zahrah Nordien said plans to return 108 District Six claimants had been delayed by another month.
“The 108 units that were completed, now people were supposed to have moved in at the end of April. But due to COVID, everything is delayed so at the end of May they will be moving in.”
According to an IOL report from 2020, Executive Mayor Dan Plato said: “This joint project with the national government, who is responsible for the overall development, carries significant weight for the recipients of homes in District Six.
Plato said the City plays an integral part in this process through our planning approvals and the underground infrastructure that we are responsible for.
“We hope the process can move quicker so that more people can experience closure and joy from returning to their old neighbourhood.”
Meanwhile the District Six working committee has urged the government to speed up its plans to have people return to the area they once called home.
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