Cape Town - Almost two years after the Western Cape High Court set aside the sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point, it remains vacant and underutilised amid a growing housing crisis.
This is the sentiment shared by housing movements Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi, who came together on Saturday to discuss, reflect, and provide a way forward on the campaign.
Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Law Centre head Disha Govender said since the August 2020 judgment, the Province had launched an application at the Supreme Court of Appeal, appealing various parts of the judgment.
“We are still waiting for the court to indicate when this application would be heard, but we are hoping that it would be towards the end of the year,” Govender said.
Reclaim the City leader Sheila Madikane said that with the ruling, there was no reasonable obstruction for the provincial government to not deliver affordable housing on the site.
Madikane said numerous feasibility studies undertaken showed how affordable housing could be developed on the site but said that there was no urgency from the Province.
Ndifuna Ukwazi head of organising, Buhle Booi, took aim at Premier Alan Winde’s “failure” to attend the assembly despite a timely invitation.
Booi said this demonstrated a lack of genuine commitment from Winde’s office to address spatial apartheid and to unlock parcels of land for public land in the province.
“It is a clear demonstration that Premier Winde’s alleged open door policy is farcical. Instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on extended litigation, the premier should deliver well-located affordable housing on the Tafelberg site,” Booi said.
However, the provincial government said in the period between its initial sale to the present date, circumstances had changed and significant interest had been shown by the provincial departments to explore the usage of the site in the public interest, including the re-evaluation of a portion of the site for social housing.
The premier’s office said discussions were ongoing, adding that the provincial government had embarked on other progressive social housing developments in well-located areas in support of its desire to achieve spatial redress
It further expressed dismay that five years had passed since the unlawful occupation of the Somerset precinct occurred.
“The premier would once again appeal to these activist organisations to encourage the vacation of this site by invaders, so that justice may be achieved for those who’ve been waiting patiently, and lawfully, for a home,” it said.