GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & City of Cape Town Mayoral Candidate
07 July 2026
The City of Cape Town must apply the humiliating lessons it received from the Constitutional Court in the Tafelberg School matter last week to its proposed sale of the iconic Good Hope Centre.
The ConCourt ruled the 2015 sale by the DA-led Province of the Tafelberg School site in Sea Point unlawful, criticised the Province and City for failing to consider using well-located land for affordable housing, and ordered them to discharge their Constitutional obligations to reverse apartheid spatial planning.
The steep price of property in well-located parts of Cape Town makes it unaffordable to the vast majority of residents of colour, and therefore a formidable barrier to the development of an inclusive, just and sustainable city.
If the State does not leverage the public assets it controls to develop affordable housing in areas previously reserved for Whites, including in the inner-city of Cape Town and surrounds, the City will forever be trapped in its pre-1994 spatial plan of forced segregation.
The ConCourt affirmed two critically important principles: That public assets should be used for public good and that, when it comes to the provision of housing in the post-apartheid landscape, where people live matters.
These principles are fundamentally at odds with the City of Cape Town’s decision to sell the Good Hope Centre to an evangelical church, rather than retain the Centre as a civic space and use the surrounding land (included in the sale) for mixed use development including a portion of affordable housing. After the identity of the buyer on auction was publicly revealed in February the City ran for cover, saying the auction outcome was not final until it had been reviewed. It must be a very thorough review process because five months later the outcome is yet to be revealed.
As leader of the DA, Mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis is ultimately accountable for the political decisions of both the DA-led City and Province. Hill-Lewis has over the past year repeatedly dismissed the concept of “spatial justice” as propaganda.
The ConCourt has ordered the City and Province to report back within three months on its plans and delivery record of affordable housing in well-located areas including the inner-city and surrounds.
One trusts Hill-Lewis would have had the opportunity to read the judgement by then and walked back his ill-judged Good Hope Centre sale. If he doesn’t, besides what it says about his values, he runs the risk of being taken to court and rapped over the knuckles again.
Media Enquiries: media@forgood.org.za