Inching closer to land restitution
Cape Town 151029-. Juanita Solomons and Bernice Kallis ( sisters) standing in the land that was taken from them. Mayor Patricia De Lille handed back a piece of land to the Solomon family in retreat. The original owner , a vegetable farmer named Isaac Solomon was forced to sell the land he had bought and cultivated because this section of retreat had been declared a whites -only aera under the Groip areas act. Picture Cindy Waxa.Reporter Argus Cape Town 151029-. Juanita Solomons and Bernice Kallis ( sisters) standing in the land that was taken from them. Mayor Patricia De Lille handed back a piece of land to the Solomon family in retreat. The original owner , a vegetable farmer named Isaac Solomon was forced to sell the land he had bought and cultivated because this section of retreat had been declared a whites -only aera under the Groip areas act. Picture Cindy Waxa.Reporter Argus
Francesca Villette
WHILE the City celebrated the release of 2.5 hectares of land to the Land Claims Commission, the family it was intended for were still waiting to have their land returned to them.
On Thursday, provincial land claims commissioner Michael Worsnip said the process of handing land back to the Solomon family had not been finalised.
The family had been forced off their farm under the Group Areas Act and had lodged a claim to get their land back.
Last year, the Regional Land Claims Commission wrote to the City to ask that the land in Retreat be released for restitution purposes. In May, the council resolved to release the erven.
Worsnip said the commission and the City were still in negotiations about the land and no final decision had been made about ownership yet.
“Last week I wrote to the City and asked that the land not be handed over until negotiations are over,” he said.
A spokesperson for mayor Patricia de Lille said the City was not pre-empting procedures, but instead it celebrated the release of the land.
The City on Thursday invited claimants Juanita Solomon, 73, and her sister, Bernice Kallis, 67, to celebrate the release of the land, which had originally belonged to their family.
The land today had a municipal worth of R5.6 million and De Lille said the market value could be double that amount.
Solomon was just six weeks old in 1942 when her late parents bought the land on which they farmed vegetables and flowers.
The Group Areas Act later declared the section of Retreat they were living on a whites-only area and in 1961 her family were forced to sell their property.
When democracy dawned, Solomon vowed that she would do all that she could to get the land back, in honour of her late parents.
Solomon said despite the massive hurdles and knowledge of the sometimes slow pace of restitution, she had to act and never gave up.
“The land was hills and valleys when daddy would toil on it every night after supper. We had vegetables and flowers, and also cattle and horses. When my parents and my brother died, I knew I had a role to play in getting the land back,” Solomon said.
De Lille said: “Our haste is driven by the fact that a generation of claimants is losing time and losing hope. At the current rate of restitution, many claimants will not live to see justice in their lifetime. They will not live to see the return of land which rightfully belongs to them.
“Although we are legally entitled to keep the land, we believe that this land was never ours to begin with. We have therefore endeavoured to complete our part of the process as speedily as possible,” De Lille said.
Chief land claims commissioner Nomfundo Gobodo said there was no fixed time as to how long it took to transfer title deeds as a number of factors had to be considered.
@FrancescaJaneV