In this matter the LRC assisted the clients in lodging an application with the Commission on Land Allocation (ACLA) for the return of land appropriated from the family in terms of the Group Areas Act. Since the property was in Port Elizabeth, the matter was turned over to the Port Elizabeth branch for finalisation.

This item comprises 4 files:

Files 1-3: Correspondence, file notes and ACLA documentation.

File 4: Government Gazettes and press cuttings.

Following the 1994 elections, several land claims in the Franschhoek area were brought to the Land Claims Commission, with the LRC assisting several clients in lodging claims. The matter then developed into a much broader issue. The Town Council decided to sell off some of the town's commonage for high income housing. This was opposed by many organisations, including the LRC on behalf of the clients whose land claims they were handling. Negotiations were then entered into between many housing groups, developers, NGOs and so on to find a creative resolution to Franschhoek's low income housing shortage. These negotiations resulted in the historic 1996 Social Accord. Plans were then drawn up and partnerships developed to develop the commonage to provide some 1000 houses to previously dispossessed people of the region.

This item comprises 22 files:

File 1: Correspondence and notes.

Files 2-5: Claims in Franschhoek.

Files 6-8: Afrikaans information piece titled "Addressing the housing question in Franschhoek", by Piet Smit (1996).

File 9: Briefs to counsel.

File 10: Research documents relating to the commitments of local authorities under the New Constitution.

Files 11-13: Documents relating to the valuation of properties.

Files 14-17: Research documents on the Franschhoek claims compiled by Daniel Jacobs, a research appointed to facilitate the claims.

Files 18-21: Documents relating to the development of Franschhoek.

File 22: Press clippings.

Copies of ANC reports, discussion documents and policies about land reform, copy of the PAC land policy and theological articles on the land question.

The client's family had been dispossessed of their home in "The Island", George, when the area had been proclaimed a white area under the Group Areas Act. The client wanted to claim back this land. The claim sparked an investigation into the application of the Group Areas Act in George by the Southern Cape Land Committee. The client then decided not to claim the land via the Commission on Land Allocation, but to wait for the new commission and claim compensation instead.

This item comprises 4 files:

File 1: Correspondence and file notes.

File 2: Report on the Group Areas Act as applied in George, by Allan Kannemeyer, Southern Cape Land Committee.

File 3: Title Deeds and photographs.

File 4: Proclamations of group areas in George.

Consist of mostly church related publications such as ownership of land by the church and include:

Conference, The effective utilisation of church land:

The earth is the Lords, Executive summary and proposed Church land policy framework, a document by the South African Council of Churches and National Land Committee, Technikon South Africa Conference Centre Johannesburg, 4-7 November 1997.

Economics Committee of Justice and Peace:

The land question in South Africa, R Roux.

Just economics, Bernard F Connor.

Stellenbosch Economic Project:

Church and land, Working documents on the post-apartheid economy no 4, edited by EM Conradie, DE de Villiers and J Kinghorn, 1992.

Surplus People Project:

You don't know whether to prepare for the future or wait for the promises, Some aspects of church land ownership in South Africa, Zohra Dawood and David Mayson, 1993.

University of Cape Town:

Mission settlements in South Africa, Pilot study or the Department of Environmental Affairs, Derek Japha, Vivienne Japha, Lucien Le Grange and Fabio Todeschini, 1992.

Western Province Council of Churches Publication:

Land and the Church, the case of the Dutch Reformed churches, a reader by Mirjam van Donk, no 1, 1994.

Land issues and challenges to the Church, a reader by Mirjam van Donk, no 2, 1994.

In this matter the LRC assisted the client in making a submission to the Advisory Commission on Land Allocation (ACLA) regarding Erf 2944, Grassy Park, which the client had been dispossessed of in terms of Group Areas legislation.

This item comprises 4 files:

Files 1-2: Correspondence.

Files 3-4: Submission to ACLA.

In this matter the LRC advised and assisted an individual in laying claim to an erf in the Steenberg area which the claimant contended had been expropriated in terms of the Group Areas Act. The LRC assisted the client in preparing a claim which was lodged with the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights. It is not clear from the file whether the claim was successful or not.

This item comprises 3 files:

File 1: Correspondence and file notes.

File 2: Statements and declarations.

File 3: Deeds Office history and title deeds.

In this matter the LRC advised and assisted the client (a trust) in laying claim to several erven in the District Six (Woodstock) area which had been expropriated in terms of the Group Areas Act and the forced removals that had taken place there. The LRC assisted the client in preparing a claim which was lodged with the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights. It is not clear from the file whether the claim was successful or not.

This item comprises 1 file of correspondence and notes, and contains a copy of the claim form sent to the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights.

In this matter the LRC advised and assisted the client in laying claim to an erf in the Simonstown area which had been expropriated in terms of the Group Areas Act. The LRC assisted the client in preparing a claim which was lodged with the Advisory Commission on Land Allocation. However, the client did not pursue the claim.

This item comprises 2 files:

File 1: Correspondence and file notes.

File 2: Deeds Office history and title deeds, and gazettes.

In this matter the LRC assisted a family with a group areas land claim in Simonstown. A submission regarding two erven which had been expropriated in terms of the Group Areas Act was made to the Commission on Land Allocation. The family was allowed to lease one house from the Department of Public Works pending the outcome of the application. The family eventually enlisted private attorneys to handle their clams, so it is not clear what the outcome of the application was.

This item comprises 4 files:

Files 1-2: Correspondence and file notes.

File 3: Submission to Commission on Land Allocation.

File 4: Deeds and other personal documents.