GOOD Statement by Suzette Little,
GOOD Deputy Secretary-General & City of Cape Town Councillor
30 July 2025
The GOOD Party strongly objects to the City of Cape Town’s proposal regarding Erf 142870 in Hanover Park, a legally questionable and morally unjust plan that betrays the residents of this already strained community.
What is clear is that the City of Cape Town never intended to use this land to benefit Hanover Park. It was identified by the City as a relocation site for unhoused residents from Observatory, a move that shifts the burden of the City’s failure to build inclusive communities onto a neighbourhood already facing severe overcrowding, neglect, and underdevelopment. When the Observatory community rejected the relocation plan, the City stayed silent.
Yet, underground infrastructure was quietly installed on the Hanover Park site, without formal Council approval. Raising serious concerns: how was this work authorised before this item was even tabled before Council? Why was the ward councillor unaware? Who gave the green light?
The City’s claim of public participation is disingenuous. Publishing notices in the Cape Argus and Die Burger does not constitute meaningful engagement with a community that largely cannot afford or access those publications. The report falsely claims there were no objections. In reality, residents raised concerns at public meetings and on-site engagements, which were simply ignored.
This process violates multiple legal frameworks:
• Sections 16 and 17 of the Municipal Systems Act, which require authentic community consultation;
• Section 152 of the Constitution, which obliges municipalities to encourage community involvement; and
• The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), which protects the public from decisions made without proper procedure, fairness, or transparency.
What is being presented to Council is a rubber-stamping exercise for a flawed, secretive process. Hanover Park is not a dumping ground. It is not the answer to elite resistance in wealthier suburbs. Its residents deserve better. This community has long pleaded for housing for their own, their children, backyarders, and elders. Instead, they are handed secrecy and exclusion. The beneficiaries of any project on this land must be Hanover Park residents. Anything less is unacceptable.
GOOD will support the community in filing a formal PAJA complaint, and will request a full review of this decision and a referral of the matter to MPAC for investigation. The City cannot continue to act with impunity.
Media Enquiries:media@forgood.org.za