GOOD Statement by Brett Herron ,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament
24 February 2025
For more than a decade, the fight for affordable housing at the Tafelberg site in Sea Point has been stuck in a cycle of delays, excuses, and political cowardice. Study after study has confirmed that social housing here would give lower-income households access to economic opportunities, public services, and transport in one of Cape Town’s most exclusive areas. And now the Western Cape Government is about to embark on yet another feasibility study.
In January 2025 the Western Cape Provincial Government announced that the Tafelberg School is no longer “surplus to needs” and that the school building would be used for social services either for the disabled or for the elderly.
However, in a written reply to questions submitted by GOOD, MEC’s for Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers has confirmed that the province is planning a new study, assessing the site for social-services delivery and to update previous affordable housing studies.
Let’s be clear: This is not due diligence. This is a delay tactic, an expensive, taxpayer-funded excuse to avoid taking action. The Western Cape Government is running out the clock, hoping the public will eventually give up. GOOD will not!
Since the first feasibility study in 2011, multiple independent reports have reached the same conclusion: Tafelberg is not only viable for affordable housing but necessary.
In 2017, when a feasibility study was finally released for public comment, it was met with yet more delays and a complete lack of transparency.
When civil society groups like NASHO and Ndifuna Ukwazi produced counter-studies proving that affordable housing could be financed through cross-subsidization, specifically by leasing the heritage-protected school building, the province ignored them.
Instead of moving forward, the provincial government has spent years dodging accountability. First, it tried to sell the site to a private school. Now, under mounting pressure, it has conveniently pivoted to using the Tafelberg school building for service delivery, directly contradicting the very studies that showed its role in funding affordable housing.
And now, after years of research, expert proposals, and public participation, the province is commissioning yet another feasibility study.
This is not just bureaucratic inefficiency; it’s a deliberate political choice to block spatial justice. We are tired of the excuses, the endless studies, and the government’s refusal to act. No more delays. No more distractions. The time for affordable housing at Tafelberg is now.
Media enquiries: media@forgood.org.za