Anwah Nagia, head of the trust that manages the District Six apartment complex, said “legitimate claimants” could move in anytime.
|||Cape town - Anwah Nagia, head of the trust that manages the District Six apartment complex that saw several units occupied by Khoi activists, said on Monday “legitimate claimants” could move into all the complex’s units as soon as they saw fit.
This includes 11 units occupied by the Khoi activists on June 15. The group was evicted on June 21.
But Mario Wanza, a member of the Khoi group, said yesterday these 11 units could not be occupied until the group returned to court.
On July 9 the court will decide if an interim eviction order should be finalised.
Wanza said the court’s eviction order, granted by Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney on June 17, prohibits anyone from occupying the 11 units.
“It was our understanding that the current dispute that exists needs to be dispensed with before the units are again occupied,” he said.
The order states: “The applicants are directed not to permit any person to take occupation of the property… pending finalisation of the matter.”
Four days later, Judge Henney upheld the original eviction order. It was only amended in one respect: one family, with two minor children, were allowed to stay on in the complex.
The Department of Social Development was tasked with finding alternative accommodation for them.
Nagia, chairman of the District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust, said yesterday it was his understanding that the trust could help place families in all units.
“There is absolutely no stay of eviction,” he added.
He said that, despite the Khoi activist group’s claims to the contrary, returnees could move into the 11 units occupied by the Khoi activists, as well as 28 additional units.
He said that “by the end of the week” - and before the return court date - families would “probably” have moved into some of the 11 units previously occupied by the activist group.
“When you are out, you are out,” he said, referring to the activist group. “(Returnees) are ready to move in, in the blink of an eye.
“They are just getting their stuff ready,” he said.
The 115-unit complex, completed in 2011, was built for beneficiaries of a District Six resettlement plan.
“We are not keeping any units empty,” said Nagia. “Every day or every two days you will find families moving in.”
He said six families had already moved in since the activists were evicted on June 21, and all 39 units were expected to be occupied by July 15. Nagia said the new owners of the units would be given sectional title rights.
They were selected according to the order in which they submitted land claims.
jan.cronje@inl.co.za
Cape Times