GOOD Statement by Brett Herron ,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament
04 March 2025
Residents of Cape Town must defend their City’s proposal to convert the King David Mowbray Golf Club into a mixed-use development including affordable housing.
If it is not defended, the proposal will be shot down by an evidently rapidly emerging anti-transformation lobby.
The DA-led City’s resistance, until now, to developing affordable housing in well-located areas is well-documented.
Six years ago, its stubborn opposition to unstitching apartheid spatial planning led directly to the establishment of the GOOD Party led by former Mayor Patricia De Lille (incidentally, an accomplished golfer).
As recently as last month, the City was arguing in the Constitutional Court, in opposition to developing affordable housing at the Tafelberg School site in Sea Point, that it was under no obligation to reverse apartheid planning.
Now, according to a flurry of media reports, the City has been engaging in a public participation process over its proposal to redevelop the Mowbray Golf Club Land – and has been encountering stiff resistance.
The headline on News24’s report today was: “Battle launched to stop affordable housing on Cape Town Golf Course.”
The report noted objections from various constituencies, including the Golf Club, disabled golfers and residents.
Over the years, the City has announced various plans to deliver affordable housing in well-located areas, but has yet to put any bricks on the ground. The announcements have released pressure on the City’s seen to be addressing the needs of all its residents, without the need to actually develop anything.
Now, it must resist the temptation of being waylaid by minority objections, again. “Reasonable” needs raised in the objections window can be mitigated, including through traffic management and accommodating the disabled golfing community at another golf course, of which there are many in the Cape Town area.
Unreasonable objections, including of the not-in-my-backyard variety, shouldn’t be considered. This will place the City in an awkward position as many objections will come from members of its own relatively affluent constituency – and there’s a local government election not too far away.
The Mowbray Golf Club development is sensible. It is also highly symbolic because of the space it occupied as a physical buffer zone between suburbia and the Cape Flats.
The societal needs for affordable homes in well-located areas, and for breaking the links between race and space, outweigh the needs of the golfing community.
Media enquiries: media@forgood.org.za