ConCourt stops NPO attempt to halt land restoration to family in its tracks

Sadien clan forcibly removed in 1963 via Group Areas Act

- By Mzwandile kaBizokwakhe

The Constitutional Court has given a Western Cape family dispossessed of its land in 1963 the best gift for Christmas.

In its unanimous judgment, penned by Justice Jody Kollapen and delivered last Friday, the Constitutional Court stopped a 15-year litigation saga in which the South African Riding for the Disabled Association (Sarda) sought to prevent the Sadien family from taking occupation of the land it received as part of land restitution 15 years ago.

The case centres on the dispossession of Erf 2274 Constantia, acquired by a Sadien forebear in 1902. The Sadien brothers and their families lived on and worked the land, using it to grow and sell produce until they were forcibly removed in 1963 as a direct result of the Group Areas Act, when they were compelled to sell it for almost half its value.