Cape Town points to 28 sites in its defence of land sales
CAPE TOWN — The City of Cape Town says 28 of the 49 municipal properties at the centre of a High Court challenge are zoned for housing. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis confirmed on 29 October that the City will oppose the South African Human Rights Commission’s bid to halt the transfers. The dispute turns on what the zoning secures for residents: it permits homes to be built, but the commission says the sale terms do not require buyers to make them affordable.
The residential sites include properties in Mitchells Plain, Maitland, Goodwood, Kraaifontein, Somerset West and Durbanville. The City says it assessed which land could serve local housing demand and which sites were better suited to businesses that could create jobs. It says its broader land release programme generated R628 million for services and infrastructure during the council term. That figure covers the programme as a whole, beyond the disputed February auction.
The dispute began before the auction
Hill-Lewis accused the commission of electioneering by bringing its application shortly before the municipal polls. He said the properties had undergone public consultation and that the City had answered the commission’s questions months earlier. The SAHRC says it met the mayor in February and asked him to postpone the auction so the two sides could examine the housing implications. The City declined and the auction went ahead.
The commission also questions whether consultations dating back as far as 2010 gave residents an adequate say before the City sold the land. For households seeking affordable homes, the distinction matters. The City’s response identifies where housing could be built, but does not identify a sale condition that would reserve homes on those sites for lower-income residents.
The immediate question before the Western Cape High Court is whether the properties should remain in municipal ownership while it reviews the sale decisions. The commission wants the City to preserve the records behind those decisions and, if the review succeeds, reconsider the disposals.
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