Activists demand release of Tafelberg site for social housing

Housing rights activists are calling on the Western Cape Government to release the controversial Tafelberg School site, which is expected to give birth to social housing, with a proposal of up to 252 units with land use and heritage applications this year.

A year after the Constitutional Court reserved judgement in the matter, after housing activists, Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU), launched its plight against the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Premier Alan Winde, and the Minister of Transport and Public Works, over spatial apartheid and the call for social housing.

On the anniversary of the judgement, NU said it called for Winde to release the land, citing its significance coinciding with the 60th anniversary since District Six was declared a White Group Area under the Group Areas Act. In January 2025, Provincial MEC of Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers, and MEC for Social Development, Jaco Londt, announced the Western Cape Government's (WCG) proposal to redevelop a portion of 353 Main Road in Sea Point, known as the “Tafelberg site.”

Londt's office at the time added the site would be feasible for much-needed older persons' and low-income housing.

“February 11, 2026 marks the one-year anniversary of the Tafelberg matter being heard in the Constitutional Court. This date is also deeply significant in South Africa’s history: it marks 60 years since District Six was declared a White Group Area under the apartheid Group Areas Act, and 36 years since Nelson Mandela was released from prison,” said NU.

“In Cape Town, the ongoing unregulated growth of short-term rentals and speculative investment sends a clear message to the poor and working class: anyone but you belongs in the city you helped build and keep alive. Increasingly, well-located land and housing are being locked behind walls of privilege rather than used to address the core crisis of affordability and access.”

“Together, these February dates trace the long arc of spatial justice. They show that this struggle did not begin with Tafelberg and will not end with a single court judgement."

NU added that in 2025, the Provincial Government took a U-turn and announced that it would embark on a two-year public consultation process, culminating in 2026. Through this process, it has emerged that 229 open market units and 252 social housing units are possible on the site.

"We call on Premier Alan Winde to release the Tafelberg site for social and affordable housing," it said.

Mpho Raboeane, Ndifuna Ukwazi Executive Director, added: “We are in a housing crisis. We are seeing a dwindling number of social housing provisions. The answer to this is more supply of housing that is truly affordable. Social housing institutions are not able to build at scale due to budget constraints; however, the realisation of this requires:

“An increase of the Social Housing budget from 2%. “Tax breaks for the development of social housing. “Ensure land is released at a R1 nominal value.”

Queries to the premier's office went unanswered on the call.

NU appealed the SCA's ruling favouring the Western Cape Government regarding the sale of the Tafelberg property, a 1.7-hectare site with a history of forced removals. Parts of the land were previously used as the Tafelberg Remedial School (until 2010) and for affordable state-rental housing (Wyngard Mansions site). The appeal follows the 2015 sale of "The Tafelberg Site" to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135 million.

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