The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi, and other dignitaries, on 11 August 2021, witnessed the joy of the Jonnes family after their land was given restituted in the Lotus River area. For the Johannes family, the return of land to them is about more than just restitution. It is the opportunity to restore family bonds nearly 55 years after the forceful dispossession of their land tore the family apart. For the City of Cape Town, the restitution of land is an important aspect of its efforts to enable redress and transformation.
“For more than 20 years, the late Abram Johannes, together with his wife Anna Elena, farmed with pigs and cows, vegetables, fruits and flowers on this land before being forced to sell. The couple had 12 children and the extended family had gathered at the farm on weekends and holidays. Their children and grandchildren grew up swimming and fishing in the vlei.” Coucillor Booi stated.
“This piece of land formed an important part of the family members’ lives and it is an honour to join the grandchildren of Pappa and Ouma Johannes here to see them return to their land after more than five decades of waiting. It is a great pleasure to see the land returned to the beneficiaries,” said Councillor Booi.
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The dispossession of the land was done in accordance with the racially-based Group Areas Act, which was developed and used by the apartheid government to cause division and create spatial divides, robbing people of colour of their property and tenure rights, tearing communities and families apart, and forcibly settling them in new areas. The land in question later ended up as public land, owned by the city.
“The dispossession has left a scar on this family which could never be healed again. We have drifted apart. Financially, we had to purchase our homes and start from the bottom as if we never had anything. We were looked down on in school because we lived in “die bos” but we were in fact landowners dispossessed by an evil political system. We are tied to this area because the blood and sweat of our grandparents and family. We were adamant from day one when we started this process, we want our land. We have plans to build and establish what Pappa came to achieve,” said beneficiary and grandchild Kenny Marthinus.
The Johannes claim started in 1995 ahead of the restitution claims cut-off date of 31 December 1998. In terms of restitution, the City’s role is to give back land if a formal claim has been submitted pertaining to land currently owned by the City. The National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s Land Claims Commission is the lead authority in restitution matters and handles the claim process and manages the duration of the claim.
“The City helped as much as it could to expedite the process and we continue to call on national government to ensure that beneficiaries do not wait for decades to see justice and redress. Thank you to all who have made this great day possible and we wish the family all the very best for the future,” said Councillor Booi.
