Financial model for mixed use of site

THE FUTURE of the contentious multimillion-rand Tafelberg site in Sea Point has been opened to the public for input after several months of robust campaigning by lobby groups that the provincial government considers using the land for affordable housing.

The R135 million sale of the property to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School was stopped by the Western Cape High Court in May after social justice movements Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi petitioned the court to halt the sale.

The court ruled that a public participation process be carried out.

The provincial Department of Transport and Public Works yesterday published a call for public comment, inviting interested parties to have their say on the financial model “prior to any consideration thereof by cabinet”.

Ndifuna Ukwazi director Jared Rossouw said the financial model had brought the provincial authorities “to the brink of an unprecedented decision: to begin dismantling apartheid spatial design in Cape Town”.

“It looks like a substantial commitment towards building the first new affordable housing in the inner city since the end of apartheid. (This) would be a victory for black African and coloured working class people across Cape Town.”

He said the financial model envisioned a mixeduse development on the site, including affordable housing which would be cross- subsidised by on-site, commercial retail outlets.

Rossouw said 270 social housing units, for low- income households earning between R1500 and R7500, were envisioned in the model with