Rhoda Kadalie's rant at the City and Province over badly executed restitution in District Six, and the sidelining of certain claimant groups like the Advocacy Committee in the process, ignores the lengths to which both the City and Province have gone to create a better, more inclusive process, in spite of restitution being legislatively beyond their control (restitution legislation is perfectly clear in this regard - it is entirely the mandate of the National Minister of Land Affairs, and the Commission for Restitution of Land Rights).
When the Advocacy Committee took the Trust and Claims Commission to the Land Claims Court in 2008 over the exclusion of former District Six land owners from the redevelopment process, the City of Cape Town submitted an affidavit which supported the Advocacy Committee's arguments and concerns about the lack of representation of former District Six land owner claimants. However, Judge Fikile Bam of the Land Claims Court chose to refer the matter for mediation rather than make a ruling.
Subsequently, in 2008 and 2009, Helen Zille and City of Cape Town officials met repeatedly with the Advocacy Committee and other concerned claimant groupings, and pressured the National Minister of Land Affairs and the Land Claims Commission, who have the authority to lead the restitution process in terms of restitution legislation, to create a more inclusive forum to drive the redevelopment. At the time, the City expressed similar concerns to those raised by Kadalie over the slow progress of the Pilot Projects in District Six (the group of houses under construction that she refers to in her article).
By 2010, when its repeated appeals to the National Department of Land Affairs and the Claims Commission did not yield results, the City declared a formal dispute with the Land Claims Commission in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act. The City indicated that it would take the Claims Commission to court if it did not address several matters, including ongoing delays on the redevelopment and the lack of inclusion of former owner claimants in the process.
Following the declaration of an intergovernmental dispute, the Claims Commission and National Minister of Land Affairs agreed to a series of dispute resolution engagements with the City and Province to avoid a court case. This resulted in a resumption of progress with work on District Six by the District Six Task Team (chaired by the National Minister or a representative). Firstly, a draft spatial development plan for District Six was completed by the Task Team, which was repeatedly workshopped with District Six claimants at sites around the City (workshops hosted by the Claims Commission).
This led to broad input from claimants toward the finalisation of these plans, which are now due to go through formal planning approval processes with the City council, including a full statutory public participation period in which everyone will have an opportunity to participate. In addition, requirements for bulk infrastructure and services have been calculated, and financial models have been prepared which will help guide the financial management of an integrated, and more rapid redevelopment.