Cape Argus E-dition

‘Talk is cheap, we want action on housing’

BULELWA PAYI bulelwa.payi@inl.co.za

SHAMIELA and Deon January moved into lower Mowbray nine months ago.

When a church leader asked them to look after his property the family did not hesitate to leave Manenberg.

“This area is green, quiet and has the right facilities for raising our young children, unlike the Cape Flats where we are stuck on top of each other. Apart from one or two incidents of robberies recently, it’s safe. We would welcome an opportunity to live here permanently,” said Shamiela.

Last week, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said he had tasked the City with releasing golf courses for housing.

In June, the City indicated in the draft Strategic Development Framework plan (SDF) 2021, that it would “plan for future housing and/or mixeduse development” on the King David Mowbray Golf Club and would conduct feasibility studies, and prepare for development of the site, in two to five years. This week, Mayco member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, James Vos said the identification of areas as having potential for development such as the Mowbray golf club did not mean their development was imminent.

“That said, we are willing to consider all views through the statutory public participation process, which has yet to begin,“said Vos.

Many residents and businesses in the area refused to talk openly about the prospect of a housing development on the golf course because it was “a political matter”.

But less than 500m from the golf course, lives Elizabeth Wood. “I would welcome a housing development there ... anything besides low-cost housing will be a big no for me. We have plenty of expensive houses around here,“said Woods. Cape Town has 24 golf courses, 10 of which are on public land and 34 bowling greens, 26 of which are on public land.

Organisations advocating for housing and spatial redress have questioned the timing of the DA statement.

Head of Research and Advocacy at Ndifuna Ukwazi, Michael Clark, said: “Talk is cheap and we know that the City has made similar promises in 2016 when deputy mayor, Ian Neilson, said that there were too many golf courses and there was a need to rationalise,“public land.

“Yet, in the six years since those promises were made not a single golf

course or bowling green on public land has been released for the development of affordable housing,” said Clark.

Development Action Group (DAG) agreed.

“In view of historical commitments and the timing of these pronouncements, the statements made by the party may be perceived as electioneering,“said researcher, Querida Saal.

For years organisations such as Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City advocated for the City to release well-located public land to address the legacy of spatial apartheid by developing social and/or affordable housing.

Clark said the City’s own policies stated that it owned 87 000 immovable assets including pieces of land but it continued to lease out well-located

public land for the “exclusive use by a few at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Capetonians” who needed housing.

Next to the King David Mowbray Golf Club lies the 45-hectare long Rondebosch golf club, whose lease contract was renewed by the City last October for a period of 10 years, despite receiving 1 827 objections from civil society organisations, experts in economics, history, law and spatial planning.

At the time the City said the site had development constraints as it was on a high flood-line.

However, a study by Ndifuna Ukwazi proposed that more than 1 433 families could be accommodated on the Rondebosch land in spite of the limitations of the site.

“If the City is serious about these promises, it should commit to immediately reviewing the leases over all golf courses and bowling greens on public land, refuse to sign any further leases over well-located public land without conducting feasibility studies to see if the land can be used for social and/ or affordable housing, and urgently prioritise the release of well-located public land for the delivery of social and/or affordable housing,” said Clark.

Saal also noted: “In April 2016, incidentally also during an election year, the CoCT reported that it is in the process of consolidating golf courses located on public land, across the city. At the time, deputy mayor, Ian Neilson said that some rationalisation in terms of golf courses is needed and that the CoCT must consider its options with a longer-term perspective in mind. However, five years later, not much progress has been made."

However, she said the organisation hoped that the party was “indeed serious” about implementing the commitments they were now making.

Saal said the ideological convictions of a political party played a key role in steering the direction of implementation at the local or municipal level.

“The orientation of the political party leading the municipality sets the tone for what type of development takes place, where and how it takes place and whether land is sold for profit or used for transformative development goals,” she said.

METRO

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2021-10-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

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