Fighting eviction in Sea Point

I LIVE in Sea Point and I love it. It has always been home to an eclectic mix of people. While I benefit from my property’s ever-increasing value, people around me face eviction.

I believe this administration must provide subsidised accommodation in places like Sea Point so that people remain close to their places of employment, live with their families and access health care and schools.

I am Jewish and my family arrived in South Africa with very little and thrived.When I heard that the Tafelberg site had potential to be turned into social housing, I supported it. In January a public meeting was held to bring our community together to debate the issue. A few days before the meeting, I received a letter from members of the Jewish community urging people not to engage with those fighting for affordable housing in Sea Point. After that, I felt it was important for me, as a Jewish person, to say: “All people deserve to live in a place that is beautiful, safe and well cared for”. I felt it was important to say to those who face eviction: “I back your fight to live somewhere dignified”. A few of us got together and wrote a letter from Jewish Capetonians who want to live in an inclusive city. We sent it out and over 250 others signed. We submitted our letter to the provincial government because we believe in a dedicated dismantling of spatial apartheid and we hoped the provincial cabinet would hear us.

Tafelberg could be our flagship, the forerunner to a spate of social housing developments on government-owned land in the CBD and surrounds.

If we build social housing in central Cape Town, those who are vulnerable will benefit from a secure roof over their heads and we will all gain from living in a city that does its best to provide a decent home for everyone.