Cape Town activists demand affordable housing in the city centre. Tracey Adams/FILE
THE DA-led Western Cape government’s new proposal for the redevelopment of the Tafelberg site for “a range of social services” is a tactic intended to frustrate the opportunity to use the site for affordable housing, says Good Party secretary and former Human Settlements mayco member Brett Herron.
The announcement made by Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers and his social development counterpart Jaco Londt has been met with backlash, with opposition parties and affordable housing activists calling it a “political tactic” amid ongoing legal disputes about well-located affordable housing development.
Simmers said the provincial Department of Social Development (DSD) had formally requested that the Tafelberg site, specifically the portion formerly used as a school, not be considered for disposal until such time as its possible use for the delivery of a range of social services that were required in that area could be fully assessed.
“This now makes the property no longer surplus to government requirements,” said Simmers.
Londt said they wanted to “broaden our social services footprint, particularly to address the shortage of residential services in the province for persons with disabilities, and older persons”.
“The department will be putting out a call for proposal for partnerships to ensure that we’re able to assist our most vulnerable residents,” he said.
The site has been subject of a long battle, with a notable landmark judgment in which the Western Cape High Court set aside the government’s sale of the Tafelberg site after the provincial government and City had failed in their obligations to redress spatial apartheid in central Cape Town. The City and the provincial government were then to provide a plan for how they would fulfil their obligations.
On appeal, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned that decision, leading to the current court case before the country’s apex court, which is set to hear arguments on February 11.
Advocacy organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) which took the government to court, said while they were still digesting the full implication, “this announcement and purported decision continues to raise concerns about how it involves the public in decisions about the use of public land”.
“Particularly in the context of this site, where there had been and remains calls for it to be used for well-located affordable housing to address the unabating housing and segregation crisis in this city. The Province's statement is vague and we still need to understand from the Province what the mixed use affordable housing and the Department of Social Development plans envisage. Truly affordable housing for the vulnerable is what we want to see.”
Herron said the use of the site for social services has been made on a whim, has not been properly planned and is dependent on a call for proposals.
“This tactic is intended to frustrate the opportunity to use the site for affordable housing. Numerous feasibility studies of the Tafelberg School site have already shown that the site is viable for affordable housing when the school building is included.
“If the school building is excluded the remainder of the site may still be viable for affordable housing but the opportunity for cross-subsidisation is lost and the project becomes more dependent on state subsidies. The (DA) government is motivated by malice and spite.”
Cape Times