THE Land Claims Commission handed over a total amount of R2 146 560 to 48 former owners and tenants and their families on 6 December in a ceremony in the Franschhoek Town Hall.
The recipients were those who accepted the Standard Settlement Offer for the loss of land rights in various parts of Franschhoek and Le Roux Town (Franschhoek North).
The claimants were dispossessed in the 1960’s and early 1970’s in terms of the Group Areas Act.
Some claims were submitted against the town’s commonage where claimants lived on an undivided portion of the commonage.
Le Roux Town is situated on the border of Franschhoek and at the time of the dispossessions was a township consisting of a mixture of agricultural plots and residential erven. It was declared a coloured group area in 1964. Land was expropriated from both coloured and white land owners for the purpose of settling “new” coloured residents in this area.
The settlement was made in line with the 1989 initiative for land restitution in Franschhoek, which came to an independent solution to see claims settled faster.
The agreement called the Franschhoek Land and Housing Development Facilitation was formally signed by the Municipality, the Franschhoek Chamber of Business, community organisations, NGO’s, political parties and the Franschhoek Land Claims Committee (FRALCRA) in February 1998.
The accord, facilitated by the then Independent Mediation Service of South Africa (Imssa) would bring about the transfer of a total of 1 110 pieces of land, of which a 1 000 will be transferred into the names of low-income families.
The unique feature for the commission was that the agreement made room for the land claims received from the Franschhoek area.
The Municipality of Franschhoek/Stellenbosch subsequently donated five hectares of prime municipal commonage land adjacent to Bloekombosch to the claimants.
The claimants then sold three hectares of the land to developers for R1,2 million, which will form part of a wine estate that is being planned at the foot of the mountain pass.
The claimants then also decided to utilise the R1,2 million to develop the remaining two hectares of their land.
Seventy-five percent of the R1 830 000 Standard Settlement Offer amount in compensation being given by the state, will be paid directly to the claimants.
The remaining twenty-five percent of the R1 830 000 and the balance of R316 560 in restitution discretionary grants and settlement planning grants to which the claimants are entitled, will be paid into a trust account to be registered by the Franschhoek/Stellenbosch Municipality and administered jointly by the Franschhoek Land Claims Committee (FRALCRA) and the municipality.
The financial resources in the trust account will also be utilised for the development of the remaining two hectares of land in Franschhoek South.
Another unique feature in the agreement reached with FRALCRA is that the donated municipal land will have to be returned to the municipality, should viable and sustainable development not take place within five years of the agreement being reached.
