Activists from Reclaim the City marched on to the Rondebosch Golf Course on Saturday, February 29 to protest the government’s failure to redistribute land for housing.
Outrage over the golf course was sparked again as the city renewed the lease for another 10 years for the golf course, at the low rate of R1 058 per year.
The protest group occupied the course, interrupting the games of around 20 golfers who left once the protest started.
“More than 300 activists from across Cape Town, including Woodstock, Sea Point, the Bo-Kaap and Elsies River, peacefully occupied this exclusionary space to demand that the urgent housing needs of the many be prioritised over the enjoyment of the few,” said Reclaim the City on Facebook.
The activist group want the City to redistribute these 49.55 hectares of public land to be used for affordable housing, rather than an exclusive golf course.
This cheap lease on the land dates back to 1937, and the group say that with the City’s historical housing problems and current housing crisis it is unjust to continue leasing it in this manner.
“In the face of the worst housing affordability crisis in the country, the renewal of the lease effectively amounts to the City subsidising a wealthy few at the expense of poor and working-class families that remain locked out of land markets. This is public land, that should be used to address our city’s apartheid legacy,” they said.
In January, the City asked the public to submit comment on the issue, with the deadline being March 9.
Reclaim the City have made a platform where comment can be added.
Otherwise, members of the public can email their comments to [email protected] or deliver your comments to the City of Cape Town, Civic Centre, 12 Hertzog Boulevard, Cape Town.
Picture: Facebook