MJ Scott, Oranjezicht
Thank you for a useful community newspaper, which I read regularly. I realise how difficult it is to write factual and comprehensive reports which are readable and newsworthy. Generally you manage this difficult task well, but I must ask you to please research the following comment on page 3 regarding the Tramway restitution highlights need to apply policies (“Property power problem,” Atlantic Sun, September 7).
“In the 1990s it became a prime case of a failed restitution process. The land was lost to developers who are now making millions”.
This is a misrep-resentation. At the time, this was hailed as a success of the land restitution process as the land had been returned to the original families or their descendants.Then, for quite some years nothing happened and the few reports emerging were that the families could not decide or agree on how to proceed with their land.
You should be able to verify this, but when I enquired I was told the owners could not raise the capital to develop, and instead finally sold to a developer.
Please publish a fuller explanation as it was not a “failed restitution”, but I do agree that the final outcome is far from what the public expected to happen.