Voices against Tafelberg outcome
Province said the site was not suited to affordable housing
RATEPAYERS’ associations have rejected the decision by the provincial government to proceed with the sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point, saying it perpetuated the cycle of segregation apartheid created.
Three of the inner city’s most active ratepayers’ and residents’ associations – the Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, the City Bowl Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, and the Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association – threw their weight behind the call to #StopTheSale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point to the Phyllis Jowell Day School for R135 million.
The government decided to proceed with the sale of the Tafelberg site.
Premier Helen Zille’s spokesperson, Michael Mpofu, said the site was not suited to affordable housing as the state subsidy could not be utilised under national policy.
Presentations to the executive committee, including the pipeline for affordable housing in the metro, legal advice from senior counsel, affordability risks and fiscal constraints in the current economic climate, were factors that were considered, Mpofu said.
The associations’ objections were included in 937 submissions gathered by Reclaim the City, with support from Ndifuna Ukwazi, and were delivered to the provincial department of Public Works in June.
Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association deputy chairperson Luke Stevens said the association was dissatisfied by the decision.
Stevens said it showed the provincial government showed no commitment in redressing apartheid’s spatial-planning legacy.
City Bowl Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association chairperson Barry Smith said the association, in principle, was against the disposal of scarce and valuable provincial land assets.
Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association chairperson Osman Shaboodien said he was surprised, given mass demonstrations, that the provincial government would go ahead with the sale.
Mayor Patricia de Lille’s spokesperson, Zara Nicholson, said the city respected the right of the province to make decisions.
People were within their democratic right to challenge the decision, she said.