Long wait for court’s judgment on Tafelberg site

Cape Town - It will  be a test of patience for both the Western Cape Government and housing activist organisation and law centre, Ndifuna Ukwazi i (NU), as they await judgment from the Constitutional Court in the highly publicised Tafelberg case.

Brought by NU and Reclaim the City (RTC), the legal matter seeks to challenge the Western Cape Government’s actions in redressing spatial apartheid in central Cape Town, as NU calls for the use of the well-located Tafelberg property in Sea Point for affordable housing. 

In November 2015, the province sold the plot of land that had formerly housed the Tafelberg Remedial School to Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million.

The National Minister of Human Settlements together with the Social Housing Regulatory Authority also launched an application to review the Western Cape Government’s decisions to dispose of the Tafelberg site. 

The matters were consolidated and heard in late November 2019 in the Western Cape High Court. 

More than four years ago, on August 30, 2020, the Western Cape High Court handed down its landmark judgment in which it set aside the province’s sale of the Tafelberg site, and declared that the Western Cape Government and City failed to redress spatial apartheid in central Cape Town.

NU believes their case aligns with the recent Bromwell Street ruling, in which it was also involved, which emphasised the state’s obligation to provide dignified housing solutions in well-located urban areas.

In the Tafelberg site matter, the province decided to appeal aspects of the Western Cape High Court ruling back in September 2020 — including the declaratory judgment, of which at the time, Premier Alan Winde and then MEC for Human Settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela said: “The court has made a range of orders that will fundamentally impact our ability to competently manage this province and govern it as an independent sphere of government, as envisaged by the Constitution”.

When the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) judgment came down, it upheld the appeal by the Western Cape Government.

The matter headed to the ConCourt on February 11 where the housing groups argued that the SCA was wrong in overturning the High Court’s judgment and orders.

NU has highlighted, however, that the orders reviewing and setting aside the decisions to dispose of the Tafelberg site, and the declaration of the disposal as unlawful are not being appealed.

The Western Cape’s Infrastructure MEC, Tertuis Simmers, and MEC for Social Development Jaco Londt announced in January that the province’s proposal for the redevelopment of a portion of the Tafelberg site, which they say, followed an internal departmental utilisation review process, as provided for by the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, 2007 (GIAMA).

Cape Argus