At the ceremony on Tuesday, October 14 in Karatara, Wolmarans said: "There is a great difference in living in a house and being able to call it your own." Afterwards she stated: "It was such a great honour for me to greet those attending the ceremony, not simply as residents of Karatara, but as home owners."
According to Wolmarans, the national government developed the welfare village of Karatara on state owned land in the 1940s. "Housing was provided to the timber workers of old at very low rental and the surveyor-general approved a general plan for the town in 1987. The area was known as Bosdorp and used to be a forestry station in the 1920s, but also became a settlement for forestry workers in the 1940s. The land comprising the town of Karatara was transferred to the local municipality of Knysna in May 2008."
"We had to walk a long road to reach this moment," Wolmarans explained. "It started at a workshop held in June 2009. The resolution from that workshop was that the process for transfer should be discussed and refined with the community's representatives, named the 'Taakspan'. Council worked with the 'Taakspan' and the broader community to finally agree on a plan for the transfer of these properties."
She said that after many years of meetings and after many resolutions, council finally approved the transfer of all single-residential, developed sites to the audited and legal occupiers. "This resolution was accompanied by a whole list of terms and conditions but, ultimately, it has led us to where we are today, at an assembly of legitimate home owners. It has helped us to work towards creating a town where people and nature prosper."
Knysna executive mayor Georlene Wolmarans (in the back, centre) and municipal manager Lauren Waring (front, left) with some of Karatara residents who are now the proud owners of their own homes.
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