City is using stadium to sell off public land

THANK you for your editorial highlighting the development of the stadium precinct (Time for dynamic plan for stadium”, Weekend Argus, May 28). But with respect, what does an eight-storey luxury development in Granger Bay have to do with making the stadium profitable? This is not in the direct stadium precinct.

What is really happening, is our deputy mayor, Ian Neilson, is using the stadium debacle as an excuse to sell off nearby public land to private developers. This development may come at a huge cost to us all. Traffic congestion at the V&A Waterfront will worsen, as is now happening throughout Cape Town. And it sets a precedent – soon the rest of our historical spaces nearby will be drowning in concrete. Remember how eager our council was to turn Princess Vlei into a mall, and build over the Sea Point Promenade? Khayelitsha, Athlone and District Six desperately need development. But whatever you or I think of the merits of this particular development, it doesn’t actually matter one bit to Neilson and co. Because the mayoral committee is doing what it likes anyway.

The mayor and her inner council have made themselves practically above the law, taking decisions behind closed doors and ignoring or disallowing objections, even those from the Spatial Planning, Environment and Land Use Management Committee), their own expert planning committee.

Are they bending rules and doing secret favours in return for secret DA donations from developers? We urge you to view our Facebook page, www. facebook.com/SaveCapeTown to see the issues at stake.