Land claimants propose CBD swop deal
2005-04-07
Susan Botha
A GROUP of Paarl land claimants have proposed a land swop deal which may make them beneficiaries of the CBD development project.
The Drakenstein Municipality has agreed to pursue a proposal by the “Hockey Field Committee”, representing claimants that previously owned property on or near Erf 14407 in Paarl (La Rochelle hockey field), to swop this land for Erven 1505, 1506, 30343, 10842 and 20342 (Patriot Square), in liaison with the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights.
The proposed erven form part of the CBD renewal project.
The claimants were dispossessed under the Group Areas Act and their houses bulldozed in the sixties.
The land was then rezoned for education purposes and given to La Rochelle High School to be used as a hockey field.
In 1994 the property was registered in the school’s name and in 1995 an attempt to sell it to a private developer was stopped by the Land Claims Commissioner.
In a letter to the Municipality, it was stated that the previously dispossessed owners did not only lose their property, but they also lost their livelihood, as they were all using their properties to derive an income when the Group Areas Act was enforced.
These people were business people who lost everything and today their families have nothing to show for it.
Most of them do not own any property and live in sub-economic conditions in areas such as Amstelhof, Klein Nederburg and Lantana.
With the new CBD project the claimants would like to consider the option of accepting alternative land to allow the 300 previously disadvantaged claimants to become a Black Economic Empowerment partner with the Municipality.
* The Municipality has received various reactions of interested parties for Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) in the CBD project.
The National Guidelines for Public Private Partnership recommends that the BEE sharehold should be 40%.
The Consultative Committee has resolved that a final advertisement and/or article be published to call for BEE partners.
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