Cape Town - Social housing pressure group Ndifuna Ukwazi has done a feasibility study on prime land within the CBD leased to various entities that they say can be used for affordable housing.
“It cannot be that wealthy private clubs and associations with so few members pay less than R1000 a year to use our best land as golf clubs, bowling greens and parking lots when hundreds of thousands of residents are without access to land or decent housing,” said Nkosikhona Swaartbooi, Ndifuna Ukwazi’s head of organising.
The report, titled “City Leases”, cites Cape Town’s failure to redistribute land. The report focuses on one particular problem - leased land owned by the City of Cape Town that they say should be prioritised for redistribution “but instead is used in an inefficient, exclusive and unsustainable manner”.
The report contains proposals for five areas that could be used. These are Rondebosch Golf Club, Buitengracht Corridor, Harrington Square, Green Point Bowling Green and Fish Hoek Bowling Green. It also identifies 24 golf courses in the city, of which 10 are located on public land.
According to the organisation, golf courses and bowling greens faced declining membership yet every year the City continued to renew their leases.
According to the Rondebosch Golf Club website their memberships fees are:
- Unlimited Golf
- Including Annual Subscription (excludes Affiliation and Handicap)
- R 15 750 per year
- Pay to Play
- Including Annual Subscription (excludes affiliation and Handicap)
- R 4 250 per year
- Green Fees - Peak R 280 | Off Peak R 180
- Pay to Play Peak 20
- Including Annual Subscription (excludes affiliation and Handicap)
- 20 prepaid rounds on peak days.
- R 8 550 per year
- Executive under 35’s
- Excludes affiliation and Handicap
- R 1 750 per year
- Green Fees - Peak R 250 | Off Peak R 160
- Junior / Student
- Excludes affiliation and Handicap
- R 700 per year
Last year the City of Cape Town reportedly agreed to develop affordable housing on the site of the former Green Point Bowling Greens.
“Many of these leases find their origin in apartheid and colonial city planning. At a time when black and coloured residents were prevented from accessing the city, City planners used good public land to implement segregation,” Swaartbooi said.
Mayoral committee member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Marian Nieuwoudt, said she could not comment on the matter as she had not yet seen the report.
@MarvinCharles17