Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister, Thoko Didiza, has announced that 108 housing units has been allocated to District Six claimants as part of Phase three of the District Six Redevelopment Project.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Didiza said a total of 139 claimants, who were dispossessed, have received their new homes in previous phases.
“[On Friday] the Land Claims Commission will begin the administrative process of engaging with the 108 claimants who have been allocated dwellings. These claimants will be informed of the process and they will be able to view their allocated dwellings. They will also be given an opportunity to accept or reject the dwellings,” Didiza said.
Didiza announced that the process of returning to District Six for the 108 claimants will take place from 24 June to 16 July 2021.
The Minister noted that a portion of the returning claimants are the originally dispossessed individuals, who applied for special needs, where applications were assessed by an Independent Selection Panel, followed by an appeal process.
The criteria included people who were originally dispossessed, age, those with ill health status and the most impoverished.
“The Commission has received a total of 34 appeals and the process has been concluded. Other claimants to receive dwellings in this phase were selected from the official list in order of the date of lodgement. Since there are more than 1000 claimants who opted for dwellings, further redevelopment will be ensued,” the Minister explained.
The houses in Phase 3 include a mix of apartments and houses that have been built along the original street network of District Six.
The homes have a minimum of three bedrooms and are designed to cater for family units, and allow for future expansion, to add more space by the users, if required.
Didiza said this was done to encourage as many of the originally dispossessed families to return to District Six, and to protect against ‘gentrification’.
The residential units are supported with public spaces, paved streets, and roads with street lighting and parking.
The roads comprise a series of low traffic streets linking to adjacent access routes, parking areas doubling up as play courts, with a mix of surface treatments, including permeable paving.
“A new access route was constructed to link Hanover and Constitution Streets. Landscaping consists of trees and street furniture. The design has incorporated many of the original heritage elements of District Six to resonate with original character of this historic area,” Didiza said.
The Minister said the construction of the remaining units will be carried out in two major build to be completed in August 2024, where all remaining claimants will be accommodated.
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