- Housing
activists Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City are demanding that the
Tafelberg site in Sea Point be developed for affordable housing, following
a lengthy legal battle. - Despite
provincial announcements proposing mixed-use development, activists remain
skeptical, particularly as the case is heard by the Constitutional
Court. - Protesters
have called for urgent action to address Cape Town’s housing crisis.
Housing activists say only once they see developments and affordable housing being built on the Tafelberg site in Sea Point, will they believe that the local government is serious about addressing the crises.
This follows a joint media briefing on Thursday 30 January, where the provincial departments of infrastructure and social development announced that they proposed to use a portion of the site for social services, while the other portion is proposed to be utilised for affordable housing.
The controversial site has been at the centre of a legal battle between the Western Cape Government (WCG) and housing activists’ organisations Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim since 2016 when WCG announced that the site of the former remedial school would be sold to Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School.
In April last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the sale was lawful.
Today (11 February), the Constitutional Court is hearing an appeal against this ruling by the organisations.
Making the announcement, Tertuis Simmers, Western Cape Minister of Infrastructure, said: “The demands on us in 2025 are very different to what they were 10 years ago and the impact of Covid-19 and the economic recession have made continued service delivery in some of the social and public health environments a severe challenge.
“In line with the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, the provincial Department of Social Development has 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 are required in that area can be fully assessed.
“This now makes the property no longer surplus to government requirements.”
Simmers said many sites earmarked for housing development in and across Cape Town are unlawfully occupied.
“The Western Cape Government has to spend large amounts of its budget to either evict occupiers or secure these sites. Since 2019, over R1 billion has been spent to secure several sites under threat of invasion.”
Responding to the announcement, Sheila Madikane, Reclaim the City activist, lambasted the lack of communication from local government officials.
“For the past few years that we have been fighting for that, there has been no communication between the provincial government and the City. If they want to put up social housing on the Tafelberg site, they should have engaged with us.
“They don’t want to have meaningful engagement with us so that we can sit and have a round table and come up with solutions. They just decide on their own.”
Madikane, who is also the house leader of the former Helen Bowden Nurses Home now called Ahmed Kathrada House in Sea Point, questioned the timing of the announcement.
“They know on 11 February we are in court, that’s why they publish these lies and tell us that they will build social housing for people. They communicated among themselves without us.
She said they hope the court would rule in their favour and hear their pleas.
“My prayer is that the Constitutional Court will do its job and listen to the people’s outcry and come up with a solution to what needs to be done for people who can’t afford expensive flats and houses.
“We want the Constitutional Court to listen to our pain. They need to understand that we are also citizens of the Western Cape. It is not that we want it for free, but we want to pay a portion of the rent. We can’t afford the current rent. Each year it increases. This is how people become homeless because of the evictions.”
Buhle Booi, Head of Political Organising at Ndifuna Ukwazi, said in a press statement that they are still “digesting the announcement”.
“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. We question how the province came to its decision in light of the suspended public participation process that it announced and then unilaterally suspended with no consultation with interested and affected parties or any reason provided for the suspension of that process.”
Booi said they need a “firm commitment to affordable housing” on Tafelberg, not mere exploration.
“Nine feasibility studies on Tafelberg have already shown that affordable and social housing are possible on the site. What is being explored when the housing crisis continues to compound?
“The Western Cape government must prioritise affordable housing for the vulnerable in Tafelberg to address the urgent housing needs and dismantle the enduring structures of spatial apartheid.”
On Saturday 8 February, members from Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi staged a protest in Sea Point, emphasising their call for the site to be allocated for affordable housing ahead of a Constitutional Court hearing.
