Twenty-six years after their land claim was settled, about 2 000 beneficiaries of the West Bank Restitution Project in KuGompo City are still waiting for homes.

Not one has been built, and now the land earmarked for their settlement has been occupied.

Buffalo City Metro says the Housing Development Agency (HDA) is responsible for clearing and securing the site before construction can resume, while the HDA says those responsibilities fall outside its mandate, according to GroundUp.

The dispute is the latest obstacle facing families who were forcibly removed from the West Bank area under the apartheid-era Group Areas Act between 1962 and 1965.

The West Bank Association said that, after a successful land claim, beneficiaries used part of their restitution settlement to buy land near King Phalo Airport.

Buffalo City Metro received funding from National Treasury for a housing project for the land claimants and appointed the HDA to implement the engineering services component. 

The project was intended to provide at least 2 026 residential erven, as well as a sports field and churches, but the development stalled and people began occupying the site.

Land occupations began in 2012 and although the municipality obtained a court order in 2021 to evict about 300 occupiers, it has never been enforced.

Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Luzuko Buku said the municipality had delayed enforcing the eviction order because the court required it to first identify relocation land with basic services.

HDA spokesperson Katlego Moselakgomo said the HDA’s role is limited to procuring and implementing engineering services infrastructure, including roads, stormwater drainage, sewerage and water reticulation for 970 sites under phase two of the project.

Full GroundUp report