Cape Town – The Western Cape government appeared resolute amid mounting criticism, which followed the provincial cabinet’s decision to proceed with the R135 million sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point. Housing and land activists wanted the site to be utilised for affordable housing.
Speaking on behalf of cabinet, Premier Helen Zille’s spokesperson, Michael Mpofu, challenged detractors to have the decision to sell the property “tried and tested in a court of law”.
Mpofu was reacting after Reclaim the City activists and supporters embarked on a protest and occupied two properties owned by provincial government.
“Reclaim the City can have their allegation that cabinet’s decision is unlawful tried and tested in a court of law, but it appears that this method of resolution is now not good enough for them,” Mpofu said yesterday.
Today’s actions follow an announcement on social media by Reclaim the City that its members propose an “occupation” of provincial properties as a response to the cabinet's decision.
“These actions are motivated on the basis that Reclaim the City does not believe that the provincial government’s commitments to social housing in the City are “real”, and on this basis has elected to urge its members to take the law into their own hands.
“Reclaim the City profess to uphold the rule of law but are acting outside it because that is now what suits them.
“Rather than proceed to court, they now court anarchy as the solution to achieve their purpose,” he said.
Mpofu said affordable housing projects were planned for “larger and better sites than Tafelberg”. These included the Helen Bowden Nurses Home property, situated near the V&A Waterfront, as well as the Woodstock Hospital.
Meanwhile, the Claremont Main Road Mosque said it “strongly condemns the decision by the Western Cape Provincial Government to approve the private sale of state-owned land in Sea Point, rather than retaining it as a site for affordable housing in the area.”
The sale had also been frowned upon by the national department of Human Settlements and the provincial branch of the ANC.