Cape Town's new housing tenders face backlash from ratepayers and activists

Ratepayers and housing rights activists are rallying against the City's new housing tenders worth R125.6 million, claiming exclusion from the public participation process and protesting against spatial apartheid.

Last week the City announced that the incentivised proposed developments included Brackenfell, Ottery and Lansdowne.

But housing rights activists such as Ndifuna Ukwazi said they have heard the script before, where public land was set to be released for affordable housing while ratepayers cited that old infrastructure could not cope.

The City’s Mayco Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Carl Pophaim, stated that it would boost the economy.

City said the tenders were readily available on its tender portal on the website.

The closing date for tender submissions has been extended to March 17, to afford bidders sufficient time to submit proposals.

The tenders include: Enslin, Ottery Erven 1291 and 1292 and Remainder 1293, 1294, 1295, 1296, 1297, 1298, 1299 and 1300, Ottery. The proposal entails the development of a residential security estate with an estimated 375 residential units in buildings ranging from two to four storeys, providing a mix of affordable housing and market-related rental accommodation.

Lansdowne - Erven 62594 and portion of Remainder 58699 (unconstructed Lansta Road) situated at the corner of Smuts and Ruby Roads, Lansdowne. The proposal entails the development of a residential security estate with an estimated 308 residential units arranged in four-storey buildings, providing a mix of affordable housing and market-related rental accommodation.

Eaon Way - Remainder Erf 3423 situated at 220 Buiten Street, Northpine. The proposed development of a residential security estate with an estimated 396 affordable rental housing units, together with 34 housing ownership opportunities in two-storey buildings, as well as approximately 800 m² of retail floor space.

Ruwari - Erf 9702 situated at 10 Affodil Street, Ruwari Brackenfell. The proposed development of a residential security estate with an estimated 115 affordable rental housing units accommodated in two to three storey buildings, together with 30 housing ownership opportunities in two-storey buildings, as well as approximately 60 m² of retail floor space.

Pophaim added: ‘We currently have a pipeline of over 12,000 residential units, including in the central Cape Town inner city areas.

However, Buhle Booi, Head of Political Organising at NU, argued that they had seen the same “promises” before: "The municipality is purporting to be responding to the housing crisis, but in actual fact, it is just managing perceptions.

"A typical example of this is the 2017 Affordable Housing Prospectus that announced the release of 11 sites in Woodstock, Salt River, and the inner city. Little to nothing has happened on those sites. Nine years later, the City is auctioning off a site on Upper Canterbury Street that was outlined for affordable housing in that very same prospectus.

“Amongst the things that we condemn is the auctioning of public land for short-term cash injection."

Booi added that 400,000 households are waiting for homes in this city and that12,000 units were barely a drop in the ocean.

Rashard Davids of the Civic Association of Rondebosch East called for densification to end: “We, as the residents of Rondebosch East and the surrounding areas, including interested and affected parties, were never part of a public participation process in terms of the provisions of the Municipal Asset Transfer Regulations and in terms of the Municipal Systems Act,” he said.

“As interested parties and civic associations, we are saying to the City that you are engaging in densification in our areas where we are living on top of each other and the overload of failing infrastructure. This implements the apartheid-style infrastructure and spatial planning; we oppose that with every fibre in our body, we are saying 'open up the city to all.'”

Ray Kotze, a member of LANROE NHW and C.A.R.E. (Civic Association of Rondebosch East), argued that the area was already overpopulated: “We are disappointed that the City wants to bully our residents and will not call a meeting with our residents to discuss the low-cost social housing they want to build on Smuts Road (Erf 62594/58699). The current Erf already has four adjacent huge blocks of flats."

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