TAFELBERG SALE DECLARED UNLAWFUL

ConCourt finds Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town failed to meet housing obligations

- ZELDA VENTER

IN A damning indictment of the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town for failing to dismantle the legacy of apartheid spatial planning, the Constitutional Court of South Africa yesterday declared the sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point unlawful.

The court declared that both the City and the provincial government have failed to comply with their obligations to provide access to adequate housing and have failed to comply with their constitutional obligations in the implementation and completion of their respective social housing programmes, policies, and projects in the Cape Town CBD and Sea Point.

The City and the province were ordered to submit a report to the Western Cape High Court within three months, setting out current policies and programmes for the provision of affordable housing in the CBD, including the steps taken to give effect to their constitutional obligations.

The province must also report on the steps taken to coordinate with the City and the national sphere of government in respect of the planning and implementation of affordable housing in the CBD.