Call for comment on Tafelberg

the existing school building retained as an educational institution.

Earlier this week, a small group of protesters – demanding the immediate release of the financial model – staged a two-hour sit-in at two entrances of the office of the Department of Public Works. Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Emile Engel accused the authorities of wanting to publish the financial model in December “when everyone is on holiday”.

Sea Point resident Elizabeth Gqoboka, who has been staying in the area for more than two decades, was also present at the protest.

“It’s shameful to be a domestic worker in Sea Point. We are like squatters. I’m sick and tired of living like a dog in the backyard, with rats and cockroaches. We want our own places with our families. We deserve affordable housing and we are here to stay.”

She added: “We can’t afford those luxury apartments (in Sea Point) so we want a place like Tafelberg to call home. We don’t want to be thrown to the outskirts of places like Wolwerivier and Blikkiesdorp and all those places.”

Ndifuna Ukwazi said it anticipated the financial model would face objections and dissent from “powerful interests in Cape Town – most notably from private developers who have profit- driven agendas for our public land and many wealthy residents who do not want to live alongside poor, black people”.

Interested parties have been urged to download the financial model from the provincial transport department’s website or visit their offices in Dorp Street for a copy.

siyabonga.sesant@inl.co.za

PICTURE: ZARA JULIUS The Tafelberg Remedial School site was recently sold by the Western Cape provincial government to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million. Sea Point residents and supporters of the Reclaim the City campaign went to court to stop the...

PICTURE: DAVID RITCHIE Reclaim the City protesters, including activist Zackie Achmat, block the entrance to the provincial Transport and Public Works building in protest at not getting any feedback on the Tafelberg land issue earlier this week. When police arrived, they...