Image: Protea Village / Facebook]
Nearly two decades after families evicted during apartheid successfully filed a land claim, they will finally begin building homes in the upscale area of Bishopscourt later this year.
The Protea Village community’s land claim was first submitted in 1995 but was only granted in 2006. While 46 families opted for compensation, 86 families chose to reclaim their land and are now preparing to return to Bishopscourt and rebuild their homes.
Among those returning is Andre Maxwell, Chairperson of the Protea Village Communal Property Association, who shares that the families are eager to return to the community they once called home. Maxwell is the only one of his six siblings who was not raised in Bishopscourt, as his family was forced to settle in Lotus River.
However, this moment is bittersweet for Maxwell, as his mother – who was the original claimant – has since passed away.
“That sense of community was lost when people were dispersed across the Cape Flats,” Maxwell reflects.
In 1970, the entire Protea Village community was uprooted when Bishopscourt was designated a ‘White Group Area.’ The community had lived there since the abolition of slavery and played a pivotal role in building Kirstenbosch Gardens and the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Now, more than five decades later, their descendants are finally returning to their rightful home.
Maxwell says “Things could have gone a hundred different ways, but I’m happy with the way our land claim went. Notwithstanding the duration and all the challenges that we faced, it showed more of our character, both as a community and from a development point of view as well.”
The restitution project uses a unique cross-subsidisation business plan. The community agreed to sell private residential stands on one side of Kirstenbosch Drive to fund the construction of homes for returning claimants to be built on the other side of the site.
The development has suffered several extensive delays including an appeal against the development plans lodged in November 2022 that was later withdrawn. One of the issues raised by the Bishopscourt community was the removal of a large tree from the site. Development manager for the project, Dave Child, told GroundUp that there had been an extensive tree survey as part of the project which now includes planting of indigenous trees.
While the land is divided between a green belt and a residential estate, the village comprises 86 stands each approximately 300m2 in size.
“We are happy to see the development finally underway. It’s been a long, consultative process of almost three decades with many setbacks, but it is good news to see substantive progress,” they said.
For more information on the development, check out ProteaVillage.com.
[Source: Groundup]
