THE DA-led provincial government has blamed affordable housing activists for spending more than R6.5 million from the public purse on litigation concerning the availability of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point for poor black and working class people.
It has also emerged that the provincial government intends spending R300 000 more on yet another feasibility study to assess the site for social-services delivery and to update previous affordable housing studies.
The protracted litigation emanates from the sale of the prime property to a private buyer, the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School, for R135m in 2015, despite activists wanting it used for affordable housing.
On February 11, the Tafelberg case which concerns the obligations of the Western Cape Government to redress spatial apartheid by building affordable housing in the inner city, reached the Constitutional Court where judgement was reserved.
In a turn of events just one month earlier, in January, the provincial government announced that the Tafelberg site was no longer “surplus to government requirements” and that assessments would now be done concerning the Tafelberg school building for it to be used for social services.
However the provincial government has said that its Infrastructure Department intends to utilise the other portion of the site for affordable housing.
Asked how much had been spent on the Tafelberg court case, the provincial government confirmed it was already well over R6 million.
Melchior Botes spokesperson for Infrastructure MEC Tertius Simmers said R6 725 687 has been spent due to these alleged community groups not accepting the court judgments.
“As part of the enablement and derisking process to conduct an updated feasibility study on the residentially led mixed use development including the affordable housing portion the amount will be approximately R300 000. More than a decade has passed since the original study was done. Circumstances and policies at both Provincial and Municipal level have changed. The studies will be evaluated in detail and assessed to inform the land use mix and feasibility,” said Botes.
GOOD secretary general, Brett Herron lamented that the move was a delay tactic.
“Since the first feasibility study in 2011, multiple independent reports have reached the same conclusion: Tafelberg is not only viable for affordable housing but necessary. Instead of moving forward, the provincial government has spent years dodging accountability. First, it tried to sell the site to a private school. Now, under mounting pressure, it has conveniently pivoted to using the Tafelberg school building for service delivery, directly contradicting the very studies that showed its role in funding affordable housing.
"Key sites like these and Tafelberg must be developed for housing that serves the people, not left to stagnate. These locations symbolise a broken system where potential solutions remain locked behind inaction. Prioritising inner-city affordable housing is not just a moral obligation; it is an economic necessity.”
Human rights group Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) said: "All feasibility studies were ignored and the sale of the site was set to proceed until the Western Cape High Court stopped it on 31 August 2020, finding the provincial government’s decision to dispose of the site to be unlawful.
“It is difficult to express a view on the Province’s plans for the Tafelberg site because the information provided by the Province is too vague and at times contradictory. We maintain that what is needed is a firm commitment to affordable housing on Tafelberg, not mere exploration. The Western Cape government must prioritise affordable housing on Tafelberg to address the urgent housing needs and dismantle the enduring structures of spatial apartheid.”
The organisation said the provincial government’s lack of commitment to affordable housing was further exposed when the topic barely featured in Premier Alan Winde’s State of the Province Address.
"We are reimagining urban centres and how communities interact with their surroundings. The Conradie Park development, built on the Better Living Model, represents the interplay of innovation and infrastructure development. Earmarked for 3 500 residential units, the development addresses the urgent need for affordable housing, combined with places of learning, healthcare facilities, retail spaces, and parks," Winde said.
Under Winde’s leadership, the Western Cape was sleepwalking into segregation, said NU executive director, Mpho Raboeane.
“Premier Winde touts the Conradie Park development as a model for better living in the Western Cape, but one project cannot undo the entrenched structural barriers that continue to exclude lower-income Black Capetonians from the city. The absence of any broader, concrete plans for affordable housing is a glaring indication of the Premier’s failure to prioritise this fundamental need, despite its profound impact on thousands of Western Cape residents.
“His inaction in the face of a cost-of-living crisis makes it clear - those facing precarity are not a priority for his administration. The economic burden of spatial exclusion, which forces workers to travel long distances at great expense, is effectively a productivity tax on the poor. His silence on the issue does not negate his actions, which have demonstrated a clear intent to maintain the province’s segregationist status quo.”
Cape Times