Khoisan council to fight eviction of 54 families

[caption id="attachment_69491" align="alignright" width="300"] CALL FOR PRESERVATION: Khoisan chief Thomas Augustus, left, and Eastern Cape Khoisan Cultural Heritage Development Council treasurer senior headman Neville Smith at one of the graves on the Parsonsvlei land where 54 families are facing evictionPicture: MKHULULI NDAMASE -[/caption]

THE eviction of 54 families from a privately owned piece of land in Port Elizabeth’s Parsonsvlei took a turn yesterday with the Eastern Cape Khoisan Cultural Heritage Development Council throwing its weight behind the families, saying it would help them claim the land as theirs.

The Port Elizabeth High Court ruled against the families in September last year and ordered that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality relocate them elsewhere.

The Parsonsvlei land is owned by a Cape Town firm, Power Construction.

But the families are adamant they will not move from the land on which their ancestors are buried.

The families have based their claim for the land on the fact that they have lived on it for more than 60 years.

After visiting the families yesterday, the Khoisan council’s provincial treasurer, senior headman Neville Smith, said the body would fight for the community not to be relocated.

-Mkhululi Ndamase and Caz-lynn Human