The recent Tafelberg judgment reaffirmed that meaningful public participation is not a box-ticking exercise when decisions are made about public land. Residents must have a real opportunity to be heard before decisions are effectively finalised.
Speaker, where you live matters. It matters because where you live often determines whether investment comes to your community, whether development is encouraged or delayed, and whether opportunities are created or remain out of reach.
The City of Cape Town must stop hiding behind its alleged Good Hope Centre auction review process, swallow its pride, cancel the ridiculously inappropriate sale, pay whatever penalties are due, and publicly commit to using the precinct as a mixed-use development including affordable housing.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is once again fooling the public when it comes to housing delivery. His latest stunt of yet another ceremonial handover, this time at Salt River Market, is another in a long line of the Democratic Alliance’s broken promises and meaningless photo opportunities.
The GOOD Party welcomes the City of Cape Town’s announcement that it is considering developing the Civic Centre parking lot in the inner city to include an unknown quantity of affordable homes.
If Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is serious about protecting lower-income households from higher tariffs, he must introduce a progressive tariff system that spares the struggling working and lower-middle classes and targets those who can really afford to pay.
Speaker, the people of Cape Town and South Africa must know that the Mayor of Cape Town and now leader of the Democratic Alliance, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has been lying to us all in Cape Town about reasons why we still don't have an affordable and inclusionary housing policy, 8 years later when this was first proposed by Brett Herron in this council.
Speech by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament. Note to Editor: This speech was delivered during the interpellation debate on Affordable Housing
Speech by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament. Note to Editor: This speech was delivered during the interpellation debate on the release of land and the lack of progress thereof
Over the past 20 years, the City of Cape Town’s housing delivery has steadily declined from an average of about 9,000 units to approximately 5,000 per year, while the housing backlog has surged to roughly 600,000 units.