April 7, 2004
By Lucille Davie
OVER R41-million is to be paid in land compensation claims to residents of Kliptown, the city's earliest informal multi-racial settlement some 25 kilometres south of the city.
In total, 149 land claims were received by the Department of Land Affairs by December 1998. Of these claims, 120 will be paid amounts ranging from R50 000 to R120 000, on plots of smaller than 1 800m². A total of R7,8-million is to paid to these claimants. A further 29 claimants will be paid between R120 000 and R27-million, in total R34-million, on plots above 1 800m². Some R41,8-million will eventually be paid to Kliptown residents.
The R27-million payment is for a single claim with several plots totalling 250 hectares, stretching into what is now Avalon Cemetery, several kilometres west of Kliptown. The claimant has asked the department to keep his or her identity confidential.
Kliptown was established in 1903 and settled by Indian, black and coloured communities which were moved from Newtown in the city centre. Residents were among the first blacks in the city to have land tenure, taken away from them by the apartheid government in the 1980s.
The amounts to be paid have been calculated on the basis of the size of property and the market value of property, in accordance with the City's evaluations.
Payments have not yet been made because the department is awaiting its new budget funding.
There are some claim applications that have not been finalised because of disputes within families. Usually the original owner has died and his or her descendants are scattered around the country. In cases like this, the department often requests a family tree from the claimants.
The Klipriviersoog Land Claims Committee, formed several years ago, has helped community members to collect the relevant documents, assisting with transport arrangements to Pretoria, where claims had to be submitted.
Although she won't disclose the amount she expects to be paid, Kliptown resident Gwen Wangra, who made a claim for an 11 000m² plot of land belonging to her family, on which 65 houses have been built, considers it to be a "fair payment".
"I am really happy with the payment. I really appreciate what the government has done in making the payments," she says. She plans to call in a financial adviser to explore investment possibilities.
Wangra lives in the heart of Kliptown on a plot of 3 700m² that she shares with three of her eight siblings. Her father built the house in Beacon Road in the mid-1950s, which she describes as being in "good condition". Her three brothers each have a house on the plot.
Wangra, a primary school teacher in a school in Kliptown that she attended as a child, was also thrilled to hear that the title deeds for her house will be returned to her, after being removed by the West Rand Administration Board in the 1980s. The house is to be renovated by the City.
Not everyone is as pleased as Wangra, however. Lindi Ngubeni's family had a plot with a house in Kliptown, which is now occupied by another family. She is to receive R50 000 in compensation. When asked how she feels about the payment, she says: "Half a loaf is better than nothing."
Other areas in Johannesburg where black residents were given land tenure are Sophiatown and Alexandra.
Residents of Sophiatown were forcefully removed from the suburb in the 1950s and '60s. A total of 544 claims were submitted by ex-residents, and payments of R40 000 per claim were paid, totalling over R21-million.
In Alexandra 1 585 claims were received from residents and a flat rate of R50 000 was paid to them, and excluding problem cases, residents have received a total of R50-million.
The department is working on smaller suburbs like Newclare, Newlands, Pageview, George Goch and Westbury, west of the city centre, where a flat rate of R50 000 is expected to be paid to residents.
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