Cape Town - More than 4 000 people created or signed petitions against the Tafelberg sale, which were handed to the Western Cape provincial government on Thursday.
Reclaim the City led about 120 people in a march from the Sea Point Pavilion to the site of the Tafelberg Remedial School, singing, dancing and calling for affordable housing.
Head of communications for Ndifuna Ukwazi Daneel Knoetze said: “Black, working class members of the Sea Point community have spoken clearly and bravely about the pain of life under current conditions in their neighbourhood... Their voices and experiences are the foundation of the campaign.”
One of these workers is Elizabeth Gqoboka, who has been staying in Sea Point for 22 years. “It’s shameful to be a domestic worker in Sea Point. We are like squatters. I’m sick and tired of living like a dog in the backyard, with rats and cockroaches. We want our own places with our families. We deserve affordable housing and we are here to stay.
“Pupils are suffering from lack of housing in the city as well, facing long and dangerous commutes from townships to the city for quality education.”
Equal Education deputy chairman Buhle Booi said students must stay closer to areas in which they go to school. “These long, early morning commutes present the danger that learners could be raped or attacked by criminals. The City of Cape Town must make the city safe for the working class.”
The tension began in January when the provincial government announced it had sold the Tafelberg Remedial School site on Main Road.
However, when the site was first advertised, in March 2014, it waspresented with the proposal of a mixed-use development, including residential units. The provincial public works department instead sold it to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million.
The Western Cape High Court stopped the sale on May 5 and ordered the government to publish a new notice for the proposed sale. The court ordered a three-week submission period for public responses.
More than 4 000 people wrote submissions or signed petitions against the sale. On Thursday was the deadline for submissions and the culmination of months of #StopTheSale campaigning.
Siphesihle Dube, spokesman for Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant, said: “The provincial cabinet will consider all submissions received after the end of the comment period and determine whether to proceed or withdraw from the sale agreement.”
The court order allows the cabinet 30 days to make a decision, starting on Friday.
Cape Argus