Land and property rights restorations quietly begin in Alex

The government has quietly begun to roll out title deeds in Alexandra in an effort to restore land and property rights in the country’s oldest township.

There was no pomp and ceremony before the rollout as it was nipped in the bud by members of the Alexandra Land and Property Owners Association (Alpoa), who mandated their leaders not to agree to a ceremonial handover.

Members have decried the government’s proposal to launch the rollout with only a 100 properties being restored while thousands of other properties wait for the second and third phase of the rollout.

Alpoa members argued in a recent meeting that this housing figure was not enough to warrant a celebratory rollout and fully mandated their leaders to demand a much bigger escalation of that figure to warrant a celebration.

Secretary general of Alpoa, Jacky Segopa, fully agreed with the mandate. “We did not want to be hoodwinked by the authorities into a celebration that might not bear the desired fruits. Politicians are well known to celebrate agreements today and renege the following day. “We then instructed government not to go ahead with its plans to mark the rollout of the title deeds with a huge celebratory party. We also demanded that they up the initial rollout figure to more than 300 if they were serious about a rollout party,” Segopa said.

One of the first beneficiaries of the rollout is former President Thabo Mbeki’s wife, Zanele, whose title deeds for their No 116 7th Avenue Dlamini home (her maiden surname) was ready for collection from the Deeds Office from 1 April.

Former ANC president Oliver Tambo, who like other party leaders such as former President Nelson Mandela and anti-apartheid stalwart JB Marks, has properties in the township and will also receive his title deeds.

Tambo was expropriated in absentia while in exile in the ANC headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia. Mandela sold his property before the expropriation period while Marks sold his too before going into exile.

Segopa pointed out that the decision of the government to seriously engage Alpoa with a view to find a permanent settlement to the impasse followed a ruling of the Randburg Land Claims Court, which ordered the government to urgently settle the land and property rights in Alexandra.

“This victory is not a victory for Alpoa members only, but a victory for all those who bought properties in Alexandra and had them usurped by the apartheid regime, and this is regardless of whether they accepted R50 000 solatium or not,” Segopa said.