No place for poor folk as Woodstock goes trendy
Long-time residents can no longer afford the rent in fashionable suburb
FIRST they were forced out of their homes for political reasons. Now, 40 years later, they are once again being pushed out — this time because of economics.
The suburbs of Woodstock and Salt River on the fringe of the Cape Town CBD have been home to many coloured families for decades. Some moved there after being forced out of District Six in the 1970s.
Now the area has become a hipster enclave with investors snapping up properties for businesses and student accommodation.
The positive influence of urban regeneration is undeniable. Develop- ments include the Old Biscuit Mill which houses business and restaurants and a popular Saturday market. Nearby is the Woodstock Exchange, a space for 52 businesses.
Popular eateries include The Kitchen, which was visited by US first lady Michelle Obama in 2011.
New residents are willing to pay whatever it takes to live there. But those who have called Woodstock and Salt River home for many decades are finding themselves out on the street due to rentals that have more than doubled.
“We refuse to go to the townships,” said 79-year-old Tahir Levy. “This place is the pulse of the community. How can pensioners pay R6 000 rent? Woodstock was multi-cultural, multireligious — we’ve never had these problems before.”
Forced out of District Six, Levy and his family settled in Woodstock. He owns his modest home and, as a member of the Woodstock Commu- nity Outreach Forum, is fighting for those who face eviction.
A young interracial couple walk along Albert Road in Woodstock. Their fashionable garb clashes with the run-down buildings.
“Forty years ago they would have been robbed and stabbed here,” says shop-owner Rashied Rahim.
Rahim has joined the fight against evictions. He says investors are eyeing the dilapidated buildings. This has led to landlords threatening tenants such as 91-year-old Sylvia Carelse, known as Aunty Seba, with eviction.
Carelse was born in the home in Page Lane, Woodstock, where she lived for nine decades until her husband died last year.
Carelse then moved in with her daughter Denise Daley, who rents a house in the suburb.
Daley said ownership changed and in 2012 her mother had been served with an eviction notice.
Doulah Richards, who owns Doulah’s Hairdressing Salon and has been in the business in Salt River for 40 years, faces a similar predicament. His rent was more than doubled from R6 000 a month to R13 680.
He has had to move to a much smaller salon in a building off the main road. “I have to make money. I have to survive. What else can I do?” he said.
Richards, who was born in District Six, said Salt River had always been a place of community, but it had recently been losing its charm.
“It was a mixed community and people got along. You could do all your shopping in this one street,” he
We refuse to go to the townships. This place is the pulse of the community. How can pensioners pay R6 000 rent?
said. “One by one the whites moved out and no one really knew why. Now they’re moving back.”
Cape Town mayoral committee member for tourism, events and economic development, Garreth Bloor, said it was not within the city’s mandate to obstruct the private property market. “The gentrification of neighbourhoods within Cape Town should be understood in the capacity that empowered ratepayers to add to the city, which is fundamental to providing for those whose needs rest upon the city.”
He said the City of Cape Town would “walk a tight line of facilitating organic economic growth while trying to provide shelter for those families who are incapable of doing so themselves”.
Mayoral committee member for human settlements Siyabulela Mamkeli said the poor and working class would be addressed through “a number of projects being discussed with social housing institutions”.
“It is vital that the city and our partners help to promote affordable housing projects,” he said. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.timeslive.co.za