Address by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma at the District 6 Second Homecoming celebration, Moravian Church Hall, District 6, Cape Town

11 February 2011

Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Gugile Nkwinti
Premier of the Western Cape, Ms Helen Zille
MEC for Social Development, Ms Patricia de Lille,
Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Mr Ian Nielsen,
Chair of the District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust, Dr Anwah Nagia,
Beneficiaries,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Members of the media

Goeie Middag

It gives me great pleasure to join just a few hours after the the State of the Nation Address. Today’s ceremony is testimony to the fact that our promises to the public do bear fruit.

We are pleased too, to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the release from prison of our beloved President Nelson Mandela. 

As you know he was not well, but is recovering very well at home. This restoration of homes is no doubt one of the presents he would want to have on a day like this!

For a long time District Six has been a gash in our nation’s soul. Today we return to stitch that wound and let the people of District Six know that the time for healing has come.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Yesterday was a momentous occasion. It gave me the opportunity to report back to Parliament and our nation on the progress we have achieved over the last year.

We remain committed to achieving the five priorities that we set out at the start of our term.

These are education, health, rural development and agrarian reform as well as the fight against crime and the creation of decent work.

Our land reform and restitution programme is yielding results. Today’s celebrations are proof of that.

District Six in Cape Town, like Sophiatown in Johannesburg, Umkhumbane (Cato Manor) in Durban and Marabastad in Pretoria, bear the heart-wrenching scars of the apartheid system.

Forced removals in the name of the Group Areas Act were carried out with little thought of their consequences.

Vibrant multi-racial and multi-cultural communities were destroyed overnight to keep alive the dogmatic utopia of a segregated society. In the process, thousands of lives were changed irrevocably.

Communities and families were torn apart. Loved ones separated from each other. Homes and hearths were bulldozed.

This was done just because such societies disproved the theory that separateness was the natural order of things.

District Six, Sophiatown and Umkhumbane proved that people of different cultural and racial backgrounds could live together in harmony.

Dames en Here,

You will know that in 1867 Cape Town was divided into six districts. Kanaladorp was the sixth district.

Its name is indicative of the community spirit that engulfed District Six, despite the poverty that surrounded the daily lives of the people.

It is a spirit that endures to this day. And it is this unwavering attitude that has seen us return here today.

One of this government’s aims is to foster social cohesion within our borders and beyond. Today is a perfect occasion for that. Land restitution remains a key element of building social cohesion.

We are committed to seeing that those communities that were wrongfully evicted during the apartheid era receive just compensation for their loss.

Our aim here is to ensure that poverty alleviation goes hand in hand with the return of land. We want to ensure that sustainable development occurs and that this leads to improved livelihoods.

We want to ensure that the rightful owners are returned to their rightful homes. We have had many success stories in this regard from communities all over the country, from Droogfontein near Kimberley to Riemvasmaak.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to thank all role-players for their involvement in this process. Your role here is proof that working together we can do more. Let us then work together to foster that community spirit that District 6 is famous for.

To the beneficiaries I urge you to take good care of your homes. Please let us treasure these houses.

Today brings back both good and bad memories for many of you. However, today is indeed the Second Homecoming.

I thank you.