Cape Town - The Western Cape government has justified their spending of nearly R5.5 million in the legal battle over the Tafelberg school property in Sea Point, saying this covered the costs of advocates who represented them in the “complex legal matters for adjudication”.
The case followed the sale of the prime property to a private buyer, the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School, for R135m in 2015, despite activists wanting it used for affordable housing.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) reserved judgment in the case.
In a written provincial legislature reply to a question by ANC leader Cameron Dugmore, Premier Alan Winde said R5 431 341.25 had been spent on legal fees. Dugmore said the DA-led government must pay back the money.
“This huge expenditure of over R5 million was totally avoidable. The officials of the Human Settlements Department in the province had proposed that Tafelberg be used for social housing.
“The ANC also supported, and still supports social housing at Tafelberg.
“Then DA politicians like Helen Zille and Alan Winde decided to sell to private interests. This was a clear breach of the national Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA) legislation, which guides the disposal of state assets.
“This DA court action was both against integration of the inner city and a total waste of taxpayers’ money.
“It shows that the DA is desperate to block affordable housing in the city at any cost,” he said.
Ndifuna Ukwazi executive director Adi Kumar said the millions spent on legal fees to date was only the tip of the iceberg.
“It is a genuine loss of seven years when social housing could have been delivered on the site.
In the face of a dire housing crisis, the money spent does not account for the delay in delivery and the worsening of people’s living conditions.
Finally, it does not even come close to factoring in the land and construction costs that have exponentially gone up in the last seven years,” said Kumar.
According to Winde, who said the amount was justifiable, it covered the legal costs of two senior and two junior advocates who represented the provincial government.
“The applicants launched a comprehensive application, seeking wide-ranging relief, which raised complex legal matters for adjudication. The matter has also become protracted. In addition to the original application, the case involved two applications for leave to appeal, first to the Western Cape High Court and then to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), and we now await the outcome of the appeal that was argued before the SCA recently.”
He said fixing the social housing issues required partnerships and collaboration across society.
“We have a number of illegally occupied buildings in the city centre.
This is holding up our response to helping citizens who need homes. We have massive plans for social housing in the CBD. That is what we are focused on and I wish the ANC would get on side with this and work with us,” said Winde.
Zille did not respond to a request for comment.
The City said it was “gathering information and will respond in due course” when asked about the amount they have spent on legal representation.
GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron said when Winde was elected he made a firm commitment to settle the Tafelberg dispute.
Herron claimed Winde “flip-flopped” or was called to order by the DA and “doubled down on his predecessor’s position that social housing doesn’t belong on high-value land and in well-located communities”.
He said the millions had been spent to defend the “indefensible”.
Cape Times