Members of the non-profit group, Reclaim the City (RTC) have taken to the streets of Sea Point to celebrate the momentous victory of the Tafelberg judgment.
Reclaim the City is a movement that was started by tenants and workers campaigning to stop their displacement from well-located areas along with securing access to decent affordable housing.
RTC strongly believes that a Tafelberg Site in Sea Point is one of the last few remaining parcels of public land in Sea Point that is large enough to develop affordable public housing. The affordable housing in question would be used by workers in sea point who are forced to commute great distances on a daily basis, or by workers who currently live in cramped basements or shared rooms.
RTC, along with legal experts Ndifuna Ukwazi, started the #StopTheSale campaign in 2016 when the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works attempted to sell a piece of land in Sea Point to a private school in December 2015 for an estimated R135 million.
Thanks to the efforts from RTC and Ndifuna Ukwazi, Judge Patrick Gamble set aside the decision to sell the land, struck out regulations which undermined public participation, and sought to ensure that provincial and local government properly implement their duties to provide social housing and address spatial apartheid in the Western Cape, according to Ground Up.
The private buyer of the property has indicated that they will not appeal the ruling and has no intention of attempting to proceed with the sale, according to Radio 786 .
To celebrate the judgment, Members of RTC along with Ndifuna Ukwazi took to Sea Point to express their joy.
In Seapoint with ANC Ward 115 Councillor Candidate Anwa Peters engaging members of Reclaim the City showing support for access to social housing in the surrounding areas as we celebrate Tafelberg court victory against the City from selling off housing land to private developers pic.twitter.com/YzlIMutg63
— Khalid Sayed MPL (@MKhalidSayed) November 22, 2020
Picture: Facebook/Ndifuna Ukwazi