The Western Cape government may be back in court soon to face the Reclaim My City movement for its decision to sell the Tafelberg site to the Phyllis Jowel Jewish School. A legal representative for the organisation, Mandisa Shandu, confirmed the land-sale decision would be challenged, says a Weekend Argus report.

‘When we launched a court action last year it was two-pronged. We asked for an interdict, which we were later granted to halt the sale of the land, and also for a review of the application,’ Shandu said. ‘Our next court action will be in the context of a review of the provincial government’s decision on the use of land, given the fact that land is a scarce resource and that there is an increasing need for affordable housing for people, particularly in the previously white well-located areas.’

She added that the issue would make a good constitutional test. ‘The land issue in relation to the government’s imperative to make some available on an equitable basis, while balancing competing interests, has not been tested in an urban setting. And this case would make a good constitutional test. We will take the fight all the way.’

The provincial government has opted to look into building housing projects at the Helen Bowden Nurses Home site in Green Point, and also at Woodstock Hospital, but it hasn’t committed itself to any timeframes.

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