Land claim recipient served with eviction notice days before Christmas

FIVE months after 83-year-old Juanita Solomon finally received the title deed for 16 plots (6.5 acres) taken from their family under the Group Areas Act, she is facing another battle after being served with an eviction notice relating to the property she leases from the City, days before Christmas.

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

The land, once farmland in Retreat, belonged to a white farmer, and under the Group Areas Act, he was forced to vacate it, leaving Solomon behind to care for it, the family told the Cape Argus.

The City argues that Solomon and the occupants (her daughter and granddaughter) breached the lease agreement.

Last week, after receiving the title deed of the land belonging to her father, Solomon was issued with an eviction notice.

Her joy at the finalisation of the 44-year land claim case was overshadowed by an unexpected property rates bill amounting to thousands of rand from which she should have been exempt under land reform legislation.