Solomon family's poignant return to ancestral land after 80 years

It was a moment of thanksgiving for the Solomon family, who gathered with other generations on the land, returned to them after more than 80 years after it was taken from them during the Group Area Act.

A blessing and prayer was conducted on the land along 11th avenue and Leytonstone in Retreat on Saturday.

For sisters, Juanita Solomon, 83 and Berenice Kallis, 76,  and their children and grandchildren, it was an emotional moment.

The families gathered in their camping chairs and gazebos, rejoicing that the land they had fought to reclaim had been brought back and delivered by God.

Juanita addressed her family, sharing that she had good memories of her life on the land: “We had to milk the cattle, we all had a task.. we had a lot of work but we went through it but we were happy.

“My dad and brother, this field we are standing on, they used to come and sleep here…so our lives went and then the suffering came and the land was taken.”

Juanita’s daughter, Jean Baker, who is one of trustees, said it was a bitter sweet moment for her family as the land remains empty without infrastructure.

“We feel it is a milestone, it has been a long wait, we never gave up, my mother struggled her entire life to get to where we are,” said Baker in tears.

“She never gave up, in the heat and sun, she struggled when there was no money, she kept on, and that is why we are where we are today, it started with my uncle Melvin Solomon, who passed on, who never got to see this today.

“What we want, it is no use the city is giving us back the land, they are giving us an empty piece of land, my mother is 83, must put a structure on here, there is no infrastructure, there are no roads, there is no electricity, no water. The city promised us more than 15 years ago… 

Following an investigation by the Cape Argus in December, the City of Cape's Councillor Siseko Mbandezi, Mayco Member for Finance said the sisters' property rates account would be reversed after they were initially billed, stating that the land reform beneficiaries cites that heirs be exempted 100% from property rates for a period of ten years.

A year ago, Solomon, a former nurse, was accompanied by her grandson, Alfonso Solomon, armed with documents proving their ownership of the land, sat inside Parliament before the Regional Land Claims Commission, sharing her heart-wrenching story in tears which was published in the Cape Argus sister publication, the Weekend Argus.

Solomon's father, Isaac Solomon, purchased the land when she was just three weeks old and farmed cattle and vegetables together with his wife and four children. 

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Cape Argus