The Sadien family, descendants of Dawood (Doet) Sadien, owned and farmed Remainder Erf 2274, Constantia, since the early 1900s. The property was used as a family home and market garden providing livelihood to the family. After the death of the matriarch Fatima Sadien, the land was purchased in 1956 by five Sadien brothers in equal undivided shares. In February 1961 the area was declared a White group area under the Group Areas Act 77 of 1957. In March 1962, following attempted auction and negotiations, the Sadien brothers sold the property to J.A.J. Badenhorst, a white purchaser, for R13 550. The applicants alleged that the sale constituted a racially discriminatory dispossession and that compensation was not just and equitable. A restitution claim was lodged timeously and gazetted in 1999. While the claim was pending, the respondents obtained environmental and planning approvals to rezone, subdivide and develop the land into a residential estate.