Cape Town - Before the deadline for the public participation process over the proposed establishment of another homeless shelter in District Six, residents gathered in protest and to hand over a pile of written objections over the project to the Department of Social Development (DSD).
Approximately 50 residents and supporters of the call to turn the building located at 20 Christiaan Street, District Six, into a multi-purpose recreational centre instead, gathered at the St George’s Cathedral on Friday before moving to DSD offices, just a few metres away.
The “Reclaim Silvertree” petition is spearheaded by the District Six Civic Association, District Six Advocacy Group, Silvertree RFC (Rugby Football Club), and the Upper District Six Neighbourhood Watch.
The DSD seeks to turn the former Tafelberg Crèche and historical old Silvertree Club House and Crèche into a Hope Exchange shelter for about 116 homeless adults. The public participation process concluded on July 14 for the R18.9 million project.
Before the Group Areas Act and resultant forced removals, the building and surrounding fields were used for rugby, soccer, karate, boxing, table tennis, gymnastics and other indoor sports. It also served as a madrassah for many of the children and a home base for the Silvertree RFC, with the latter now without one.
Upper District Six Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Igsaan Alexander said: “We already have three shelters within our community and another one, we can’t handle that. They have money to bring back homeless people but what about our people, our restituted people.
“Our people were bulldozed from the area and our children have no park to play in. If we had these amenities within the community and with the Rugby FC, we could have family functions, community functions, within the area. We have our meetings outside on a field if we call a meeting.”
Resident Faiq Rabin, 67, started making use of the building from the age of around seven.
“When I came out of school, I went straight to the (Silvertree) club. That club kept us busy from morning to night. We had everything there. We want to get our kids off the streets. That is the most important,” he said.
District Six Advocacy Committee founder Chief Tania Kleinhans said: “Province has defaced District Six already. They’ve defaced it with CPUT, they’ve defaced it with the removal of Castle Bridge, public toilets, so it’s changing the landscape of District Six and they must know one thing, the heritage of District Six is so profound.”
Monique Mortlock-Malgas, spokesperson for Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez, said a few site options were considered, but the former Tafelberg Crèche in Zonnebloem was identified as the most appropriate.
Should everything go according to plan, the project would be completed during the 2024/25 financial year.