Battle over Tafelberg site heads to ConCourt
HOUSING activists will face off with the Western Cape government (WCG) over the future of the contentious Tafelberg site in the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
Tension over the matter came to a head at the weekend when the WCG accused the activists of an attempted invasion and security breach at the site. Housing group Reclaim the City (RTC) said they had held a demonstration on Saturday as part of preparations for the Tafelberg case.
The Concourt is expected to hear Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) and RTC’s appeal against the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) judgment and order which upheld an appeal by the Western Cape government.
Activists want Tafelberg Properties, in Sea Point in central Cape Town, transformed into social housing units.
The heart of the RTC application brought by NU lies in what the applicants see as a failure of the provincial government and the City to redress spatial apartheid planning in central Cape Town.
NU's application was prompted by the province’s sale of Tafelberg Properties to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million.
Since 2016, housing activists had been trying to get the sale set aside.
In August 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 WCG and City failed to redress spatial apartheid in the city.
It ordered the WCG and City to provide a plan for how it will fulfil their obligations.
By September 2020, the province decided to appeal aspects of the ruling — 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”.
The housing groups seek to argue that the SCA was wrong in overturning the High Court’s judgment and orders.
“This marks a critical moment in the almost decade long legal battle which will now see the highest court of the land considering the significant issues of constitutional and public importance that are raised in the Tafelberg matter. These include whether the WCG and City have acted reasonably in fulfilling their obligations to redress spatial apartheid and to realise the rights of equitable access to land and adequate housing,” the housing group previously said.
“It also includes clarification of what the law requires of the government in how it uses, manages and disposes of public land and how people are to be included and enabled to participate in the decision-making regarding public land.”
How the property will be used has remained a contentious issue.
Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers and Social Development MEC Jaco Londt announced last month 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).
“In line with the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, the provincial Department of Social Development (DSD) 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,” Simmer had said.
In response, NU said that they noted the announcement “considering its full implications”.
“We do note that the manner in which the province has made 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.”
Cape Times