CIVIL rights organisations Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) and Reclaim The City (RTC) have lashed out at Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant following reports that his department intended using proceeds from the controversial sale of the Tafelberg site to fund a governmental development project.
Yesterday, Grant's spokesperson, Byron La Hoe, confirmed that the money from the sale would go to new offices for the Department of Education and not to projects for the poor.
He denied that Grant had misled the public and said the money had to be reprioritised following budget cuts.
With less than a week to go for a decision to be made about the future of the site in Sea Point, NU and RTC have accused Grant of misleading the public when he claimed that earnings from the sale of Tafelberg would enable provincial government to cross- subsidise projects for the poor.
They say documents from the department revealed that Grant wanted to sell the land with the intention of diverting the R135 million to help fund “an unaffordable” R1.2 billion office megaproject – the Dorp Street Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The Dorp Street PPP was a proposed office block to house the provincial Education Department. The office would be situated on provincially owned land known as the Leeuwen-Loop site on Bree Street.
The recent allegations levelled against Grant come as Sea Point domestic workers objecting to the sale of the Tafelberg site called for Premier Helen Zille’s adviser, Gary Fisher, to be suspended and investigated for what they described as “conflict of interests” because he is a property investor and a public official.
The R135m sale of Tafelberg to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School was stopped after an agreement between the provincial government and lawyers for Reclaim the City was made an order of the high court in April.
The organisations are calling for the Tafelberg site to be used for affordable housing.
Yesterday, the organisations said Grant lied when he said the disposal of the land under the Regeneration Programme would attract maximum value from the most valuable inner-city properties to create an income stream and a development fund from which projects for the poor could be cross- subsidised.
They said Grant had explained in a 2014 submission to the cabinet his department and the provincial Treasury had agreed a capital contribution for the Dorp Street PPP would be made out of fundsset aside in the Asset Finance Reserve (AFR) and an additional contribution to be derived from the proceeds of the sale of properties, including Tafelberg, of which the earnings would be ring-fenced for the purpose.
“These revelations prove that province sold the Tafelberg site – an important and valuable public asset, one which had the proven potential for affordable housing development – to generate quick cash flow to divert into an unaffordable office mega project, a development which holds negligible benefit for the public,” NU said.
However, La Hoe said the claims that Grant had misled the public were inaccurate and the statement Grant had made to the legislature was prior to the national government's decision to introduce budget cuts across the public sector.
He said departments were required to reschedule money to meet their service delivery targets.
The Dorp Street PPP was still in the procurement phase and an updated financial model was required.
“The money from the Tafelberg sale would go towards a possible Public Private Partnership (PPP) on the Dorp Street block to enable the provincial government to consolidate the Western Cape Education Department offices and ensure that after a period of time, they are located in owned accommodation versus leased accommodation,” La Hoe said.