The Constitutional Court has ordered the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government to reconsider their plans for the former Tafelberg School site in Sea Point, ruling that the public participation process was inadequate and requiring the province to report on its affordable housing plans.
The court also instructed both spheres of government to submit updated reports, noting that the original court record is now eight years old.
In response, the City welcomed the judgment, saying it provides an opportunity to demonstrate the progress it has made in delivering affordable housing across Cape Town.
Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Carl Pophaim, said the City has significantly expanded its affordable housing programme over the past eight years.
“Eight years later, the City’s progress is undeniable, with around 4 000 affordable units entering construction in Cape Town’s inner city this year,” he said.
The City added that its pipeline now includes about 12 000 affordable housing units in well-located areas and said it would also use its report to highlight challenges such as limited national social housing grant funding.
The GOOD Party, which welcomed the ruling, said the judgment reinforces government’s constitutional obligation to tackle spatial inequality through well-located affordable housing.
Secretary-General Brett Herron said the court found that the City and Province’s housing approach “perpetuated spatial inequality” and “fell short of Constitutional standard.”
Herron added that the judgment makes it clear that the value of public land should not prevent it from being used for affordable housing and welcomed the court’s order requiring the province to account for both its future housing plans and the number of affordable homes delivered in the inner city since the Tafelberg litigation began in 2017.
Photo: Facebook/ Ndifuna Ukwazi
