The Daniels family waited 40 years to get back land stolen by the apartheid government — prime property in the coastal suburb of Noordhoek.
Now they can’t get rid of it, because of an administrative error with their successful land claim.
Instead of benefiting from the land — returned to them 22 years ago — they can’t develop it, can’t sell it, and sit with a huge rates bill they can’t afford to pay. In effect they are back in no-man’s-land, a position they blame on the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development. They were told the department had given them incomplete title deeds which disqualify them from being granted a rates rebate by the City of Cape Town. They owe rates of R500,000.
In addition the land has been illegally invaded by a frustrated member of the Daniels family who refuses to budge and has incurred several bylaw infringement fines — adding to the property’s indebtedness.
“We want to sell the property because we are not getting anywhere,” said Daniels Family Trust trustee Connie Groepies. “For over 20 years the department has taken us nowhere.
“My concern is that my mother and her brothers and sisters were supposed to benefit from this land restitution. All of them have died and we are still waiting. Do they want us all to die?” asked Groepies.
The department did not respond to queries about delays in rectifying the situation. However, correspondence from the city's revenue and finance department sent last month to the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development — seen by the Sunday Times — indicates the title deed failed to specify the property was a land restitution award.
As such it did not qualify for a rates rebate. “The title deed of the Daniel Family Trust does not reflect any of the relevant legislation that defines the property as land restitution award,” reads the correspondence.
“I informed Ms Groepies ... that in the absence of such endorsement on their title deed, I will not be able to authorise the exemption from the paying of rates.”
The city independently confirmed its rates rebate only applied to validated and verified land claims.
The Daniels family were vegetable farmers in the Noordhoek Valley before being forcibly removed by the apartheid government in terms of its racial segregation policy in 1972. Historical records show they hawked fresh vegetables from a donkey cart and were well-liked within the broader Noordhoek community.
Documents seen by the Sunday Times confirm the Land Claims Commission undertook to help the family subdivide and rezone the land — which was required before multiple beneficiaries could move onto it. “It is the intention of the regional Land Claims Commission ... to appoint a service provider to undertake the rezoning and subdivision”, the commission said in a scoping report two years ago. “This is the land that has been restored to the Daniels family for restoration purposes.”
We want to sell the property because we are not getting anywhere. For over 20 years the department has taken us nowhere
— Daniels Family Trust trustee Connie Groepies
Land restitution experts have for years raised concerns about both the slow pace of finalising claims and providing post-settlement support. The Land Claims Commission, still battling to process the original raft of claims, has also been instructed to produce six-monthly progress reports to the Land Claims Court.
“What is clear from these reports ... is that the commission is completely understaffed and completely underfunded,” said Legal Resources Centre land programme co-head Wilmien Wicomb. “It is completely overwhelmed.”
She said title deed glitches were one of a multitude of challenges, with another being the contesting rights of non-claimants occupying restitution land due to the lengthy delays. Additional staffing and budget support was urgently needed. “People are giving up on restitution because it feels like an unsolvable mess,” added Wicomb.
Chief land claims commissioner Nomfundo Ntloko has called for more funding support. “The current budgetary allocations, as has been indicated previously, remain regrettably insufficient to meet desired upscaling of claims settlement to eliminate the remaining old order backlog in the short term,” Ntloko said in the commission’s latest performance plan. “It is critical that there is additional funding for the land restitution programme.”
Clara Moerats, 77, one of the beneficiaries of the Daniels Noordhoek claim, said there were only three beneficiaries left from her side of the family: “We as a family didn't have money to take things further so we felt disappointed, thinking we are going to lose our heritage due to a lack of finance.”
Noordhoek property prices have shot up by about 70% over the past three years, attracting residents seeking the suburb's laid-back lifestyle.
With subdivision rights the Daniels Trust land would be worth at least R30m, according to an initial assessment.
