The letter (“DA behind PHA”, Cape Times, September 1) refers.
I must point out that your headline is wrong. The letter by Beverley Schäfer, DA member of the provincial legislature, is a statement which is welcomed by the Western Cape provincial government that “the PHA (Philippi Horticultural Area) is a critical resource in Cape Town due to its exceptional horticultural production” and that “we stand for the preservation of the PHA”.
However, the City of Cape Town, which is also run by the DA, is anything but in favour of horticultural production in the PHA.
The behaviour of the mayoral committee since 2009 has clearly shown that the DA mayor and her political team are hell bent on turning the southern part of the PHA into a dense middle-class housing area with a strong commercial and industrial component.
In that year the city council took the first steps to finally approving earlier this year a massive 472ha development by Rapicorp 122 (Oaklands City) in the south-east of the PHA, despite objections from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, and many concerned and knowledgeable individuals and organisations.
Your readers should be aware that actions by Schäfer’s employer, the DA-run Western Cape provincial government, aided approval of this project by the city council.
Your readers should also note that the Rapicorp project will destroy the underlying Cape Flats aquifer, which has the capacity to supply up to 30% of the city’s fresh water demand.
In this water-scarce region, particularly in this year of severe drought, the DA city council’s decision can only be described as utterly reckless.
In 2012 city council officials undertook a very comprehensive study of the consequences of approving another housing development in the PHA by Exclusive Access Trading 570 (Pty) Ltd, owned by Uvest Property Group; this one covering an area of 281ha in the south-west. In this instance, both the national and provincial departments of agriculture stated that they could not support the loss of the most productive agricultural resource within the city’s boundaries.
(Why the provincial government did not apply the same reasoning with regard to the Oaklands City development is a mystery which only the DA politicians can unravel.) Anyway, on November 26, 2012, the mayoral committee turned down the development application.
Yet on July 16, 2013, a mere seven months later, it reviewed the decision taken in November 2012 and approved the application.
It is perhaps significant that shortly after the meeting in November 2012 the DA mayor removed the then chairperson of the economic, environment and spatial planning committee, Belinda Walker, and replaced her with Gareth Bloor, someone known to be close to the mayor.
Fortunately for the PHA and everyone who lives in Cape Town, MEC of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell disallowed the application thereafter on environmental grounds.
The developer has made two attempts subsequently to get permission to proceed with this scheme and indications are that the city is assisting in this endeavour.
Significantly, in March, in answer to a question about Uvest, mayco member for transport and urban development Brett Herron said “we cannot comment on the acquisition of land, regardless of where it is located”.
At least 13 development approvals in the PHA have been granted by the city council and the province in the past five years.
Is it any wonder that, with all the uncertainty of tenure that the DA politicians have created among PHA farmers, some of them have decided to sell?
Schäfer should be ashamed of accusing them of deserting the PHA. Rather she should explain why it is only now that, as she says, the “government is desperately trying to preserve the breadbasket of the metro”.
The one thing that has prevented the total destruction of the PHA already is the courageous stand of one small farmer and a small group of volunteers spearheading the PHA Food and Farming Campaign.