WC housing activists pleased with new plans for the Tafelberg property
The provincial government has produced three concept plans for the development of the site, all of which include social housing.
Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi protested at the Tafelberg site on 8 February 2025. Picture: @MKhalidSayed/X
CAPE TOWN - Housing activist group Ndifuna Ukwazi has welcomed the Western Cape government's new plans for the Tafelberg property in Sea Point.
The provincial government has produced three concept plans for the development of the site, all of which include social housing.
This follows a lengthy court battle that ensued after Ndifuna Ukwazi hauled the provincial government to the high court in 2017, for selling the land instead of using the site for social housing.
The housing movement says the new plans signal a victory for the poor and working class.
The head of political organising and campaigns at Ndifuna Ukwazi, Buhle Booi, says the Western Cape government's plans to include social housing at the Tafelberg site are a pivotal moment for people who have been excluded from certain areas due to exorbitant property prices.
Of the three concepts produced by the provincial government, one plan would see 122 social housing units on the site developed alongside 293 market-related housing units and 153 affordable housing units.
"We welcome the province's acknowledgment of the urgent housing crisis, and the potential of this site to move us toward a more spatially just Cape Town, and we urge the province to build on its recent shift toward transparency in its plans for all public land."
MEC for infrastructure in the province, Tertius Simmers, says he's pleased with the progress being made for affordable inner-city housing opportunities in Cape Town.