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Cape Town – Public comment on the sale of prime land in Sea Point will be re-opened after a settlement was made an order of the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
The site, which used to house Tafelberg Remedial High School, was recently sold to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School (PJJDS).
Workers and the Reclaim the City campaign went to court to halt the transfer and to demand reasons for the decision to sell. They were represented by the Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre.
On Thursday, Reclaim the City said it had accepted an offer from Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, the provincial transport and public works department, and the PJJDS, to re-open public comments.
"In effect, province has admitted that it failed to comply with legal requirements in the sale of state land... [and] has agreed to rewind the clock back to a moment in time before the sale and reopen a 21-day period for public comment and objection," it said.
The provincial Cabinet and Zille would review the objections and decide whether to go ahead or to cancel the proposed sale.
Reclaim the City said it was a "major victory" as the poor and working class would have an opportunity to demand that affordable housing be built on the site.
In her Inside Government newsletter on Thursday, Zille said she sincerely hoped there was constructive and meaningful engagement about the Tafelberg site.
"As a government, we have a responsibility to consider those comments in carrying out our responsibility of balancing the many competing priorities in society, within stringent budget constraints and an ailing economy (the 'Zuma deficit')."
She said they sometimes had to take difficult decisions about how best to deliver on their constitutional mandates.
Reclaim the City said it would intensify its campaign for affordable housing near the inner city.
