Green Point housing no-go
Land desired for RDP homes given heritage status
THE DEMAND for social housing close to the Cape Town CBD was dealt a severe blow when the whole of the Green Point Common was declared a heritage site, putting and end to demands by housing activist group Ndifuna Ukwazi to have a piece of vacant land set aside for affordable housing.
The application to grant the area heritage status was submitted by the Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association and was supported by the City of Cape Town and granted by Heritage Western Cape.
Ndifuna Ukwazi objected to the application and Nick Budlender, researcher at the activist organisation, said they had only been granted five minutes to make their case. “It is astounding to think that a decision with such a profound impact on the use of public land, which will affect generations to come, can be deliberated on behind closed doors.”
Budlender said the main reason for their objection was that they believed the area could potentially be a solution to a “long-standing housing and segregation crisis”.
He said heritage status could, if carefully managed, honour the deep attachment to the land of people before colonisation and the local history of slaves and workers who built this city, not with plaques and memorials, but with a determined effort to build an inclusive and spatially just city.
“Today, we need to ask, in whose interests has this determination been made? And whose heritage exactly is being preserved? It cannot be that one of the largest parcels of public land is retained indefinitely for the interests and pleasures of a wealthy, mostly white constituency.”
However, Jenny McQueen, chairperson of the Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association said Ndifuna Ukwazi had not done their homework.
“They would have known that there was a public meeting held that determined what the common should be used for.” She said that based on the decision at a public meeting, it had been decided to preserve the common.
“The common is flooded with visitors daily and that ground is utilised for other sports as well,” McQueen said. She was referring to a vacant piece of land next to the old tennis courts, which she said the title deeds stipulated as common land. She said the title deeds could not be changed.
Budlender, however, called for the review of the use of the land on the common.
“It is unclear what it could mean for affordable housing in the area. Generally when a piece of land is marked a heritage site, it makes it harder to have the area developed. The real detail will come apparent when conservation management plans are made available.”
Cosatu provincial general secretary Tony Ehrenreich said this was a way to keep poor people out of the area. “When it’s a heritage site, then no new developments are put up, so it stays more or less as is.”
Ehrenreich said this was something that needed to change and everyone should feel welcome in all parts of the city.
“It’s not fair… we should use open spaces to facilitate black people in those areas. So it should be developed with RDP houses.”
Heritage Western Cape had not responded by the time of going to print.