GOOD Statement by Chad Davids,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
27 June 2025
The amendments to the City of Cape Town’s Municipal Planning By-Law (MPBL) and its annexed zoning map represent an apartheid spatial planner’s dream. During a special sitting of Council yesterday, several amendments to the MPBL were approved. The GOOD Party in the City of Cape Town reaffirmed our principled opposition by voting against the item, consistent with the formal objections submitted by Secretary-General Brett Herron and myself on behalf of the Cape Town Caucus during last year’s public participation process.
These amendments undermine the City’s own long-term spatial development goals. They fall short of the inclusive, equitable urban vision outlined in the City’s 2023 Municipal Spatial Development Framework (MSDF), which commits to redressing apartheid spatial injustices and promoting inward, integrated urban growth.
One of the most concerning changes is the introduction of an Affordable Small-Scale Rental Units overlay zone, a vaguely defined policy that lacks any clear affordability criteria and is geographically limited to historically marginalised areas. Instead of promoting integration, it reinforces existing patterns of segregation by failing to include well-located areas and central parts of the city.
GOOD also objects to the City’s failure to implement inclusionary housing contributions in areas zoned for general business. Despite longstanding engagement on this matter, the City has opted not to require developers to include affordable housing units in exchange for additional development rights, a glaring missed opportunity for spatial justice.
While we welcome the proposed Incentive Overlay Zoning (IOZ) aimed at densifying the Urban Inner Core, the plan does not go far enough. We call on the City to go beyond density and actively incentivise affordable housing in well-located, strategic areas.
Our overarching concern is that these amendments reflect political expediency and developer interests, rather than a sincere commitment to spatial transformation. In doing so, the City undermines its own MSDF and Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
Additional concerns include:
• The definition of Emergency Housing is overly narrow—limited to disaster-induced homelessness. We call for alignment with the broader definition in the National Housing Code of 2009.
• Temporary Relocation Areas (TRAs) are being sited in already overcrowded communities, exacerbating social strain.
• There is a lack of transparency and meaningful community engagement in the selection of TRA sites.
These proposals, particularly the TRA and overlay zones, mirror apartheid-era planning practices and risk perpetuating the spatial injustice they should be dismantling.
As GOOD, we call for a bold, coherent, and just planning framework, one that actively promotes inclusive access to housing, mobility, and economic opportunity across our city.
Media Enquiries:media@forgood.org.za