SPEECH TO THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT & SECRETARY-GENERAL
6 May 2021
INNER-CITY HOUSING:
WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT’S LIES ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST
On the eve of the 2019 election, former Minister for Human Settlements – and now former Minister for Transport and Public Works, and former Provincial Leader of the DA – Bonginkosi Madikizela told this parliament that 8.4 hectares of land had been “secured” to build 10 000 housing opportunities for mixed income families.
These “pockets of land” were in Bo-Kaap, Oranjezicht, Tamboerskloof and the CBD of Cape Town, Madikizela said.
Eighteen months later, last October, I began asking questions follow-up questions. Because if the land had been “secured”, as stated, there should have been some measurable progress.
I asked the present MEC for Human Settlements Tertuis Simmers about the 10 000 housing units and he responded that his department has not received transfer of land in Bo-Kaap, Oranjezicht, Tamboerskloof or the CBD and that “no progress” report can be provided “as there has not been any properties transferred to my department”.
A direct contradiction of his predecessor’s eve-of-election promise. A promise that was nothing more than a lie.
In February, responding to more of my questions, Simmers sought to explain that the housing opportunities Madkizela had referred to were linked to land held by the Department of Public Works.
He didn’t bother explaining why Madikizela had stated that the necessary land had already been secured.
MEC Simmers did indicate that an Oranjezicht precinct in the ownership of the Provincial Department of Transport and Public Works and the City of Cape Town had been “availed to the department for planning purposes in terms of a power of attorney”.
That’s the progress report. Twelve years of DA-led provincial government and 15 years of DA-led City government have delivered zero affordable housing in well-located areas close to Cape Town – but have delivered a “power of attorney” for planning purposes.
It’s not clear if that power of attorney includes the City of Cape Town’s land on Upper Orange Street, near De Waal Park, where the City has created an exercise park on part of the land.
Cape Town remains fundamentally structured in accordance with the apartheid Group Areas Act.
By perpetuating spatial injustice, the DA-led government perpetuates division and denies residents of one of the most unequal cities in the world the opportunity to begin to forge an inclusive and sustainable future.
The failure to navigate the city to more equitable ground is compounded by the lying.
If you don’t wish to take my word for it, you may wish to read the High Court’s description of this government as a “constitutional delinquent” because of its failure to embrace spatial transformation.
You are a government that makes election promises you have no will to keep.
It is a disgrace. It is a disgrace that this government has not given one family of the tens of thousands who were forcibly removed by apartheid decree from the inner city an affordable opportunity to return.
Lies have short legs. After 12 to 15 years of promises with no progress, they are starting to catch up with you.
Ends…