FOR the 86 families of Protea Village, this moment has been a lifetime in the making. After more than seven decades, they are finally seeing the return of the land they were forcibly removed from under the Group Areas Act.
The soil they once played on as children, the place their parents and grandparents called home before they were forcibly removed under apartheid is theirs again. These families fought, waited and endured endless delays for more than 70 years, and many of those who were evicted did not live to see this day. Their descendants now return, not as guests but as rightful owners.
But while we celebrate, we must also ask why it took so long; a system that makes people wait decades for justice is a system that…
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Star South Africa (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2025-03-14