Church donates land for community

church donates land for community



plans by a local anglican church to develop a brand new agricultural community in newlands, an area about 20km from east london, could soon become a reality.



st luke’s mission, an anglican church in the heart of newlands, has set the ball rolling to redistribute about 220 hectares of land to the people of the impoverished community.

the land was given to them in 1850 by a chief to use for christian worship, education and medical work.

“the farm was given for subsistence of the missionaries who came here. that is how we came to own this farm,” said canon jesse sage. he said the farm had, however, been neglected in latter years and a decision was taken to redistribute the land as part of the church’s land justice programme.

“it is the concern of the church that this become a commercial farm.”

the church embarked on a public participation process and came up with a plan to divide the land into residential and agricultural developments.

sage said they embarked on the project about 10 years ago, but it had been dragging on ever since.

the buffalo city municipality is expected to give the development plans its stamp of approval in august.

“it was supposed to go before council in july, but we have now been told august. it has been one blockage after the other,” said sage.

if approved, about 180ha of the land would be used for agricultural development. according to sage, residents have set up a community property association to manage the farming aspect of the development.

the national department of agriculture and land affairs has committed to providing grants to purchase machinery, fertiliser and seeds. community members are already receiving training.

the rest of the land would be used to develop a residential community consisting of about 200 low-cost houses, a police station, business centre and a sports field.

the church and community are working in conjunction with the federation of the urban and rural poor (fedup), an organisation that specialises in community- driven housing projects.

“one of the stipulations of fedup is that we must train local people to build and that houses be 10 percent bigger than the requirements of government,” said canon louis flint.

flint said they would apply to government for a housing subsidy, but community members would also be required to place savings in a joint account that would go towards the development.

“a number of people have started saving already,” said flint.

sage said the environmental impact assessment (eia) has already been completed and the land has enough water for the housing development.

the anglican archbishop of cape town, thabo makgoba, is expected to sign the transfer of land on november 13.

anc ward councillor mtutuzeli phakade said he was very excited about the project as many unemployed residents would benefit.

“i’d be glad to see this project go forward. as soon as council accepts it, it can move.”