The long-awaited oversight visit by the Deputy President David Mabuza initiated by Al Jama-ah’s leader and Member of Parliament Hon Ganief Hendricks took place on Tuesday 22 March 2022.
The delays in the process of restitution caused much distress amongst the claimants and Hendricks intervened by engaging with the Honourable Deputy President, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Land Reform and Agriculture, to undertake an oversight visit to District Six. In response to this urgent quest, the reply was positive, an affirmation of the government’s commitment to redress the past’s injustices by ensuring that the land be restored to its rightful owners.
David Mabuza in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Land Reform Inter-Ministerial Committee was invited by Hendricks for an oversight visit to District Six to investigate the exorbitant costs of building the units and delays in completion of the development.
Mabuza praised Hendricks for calling the long awaited oversight visit. Addressing the audience who included several claimants, Hendricks described the 20-years wait to return to District Six as torture, worse than the forced removals and demolishing of peoples’ homes. He called for reparations based on inter-generational wealth which the future generations of claimants could benefit from. “There were 60 000 residents that were forcefully removed out of District Six. The reparations given to them is only 42 hectares of land. The rest of the land was stolen by the Technikon,” says Hendricks.