Former Western Cape mayco member for Transport & Urban Development Brett Herron – now a member of the GOOD party – has launched an application to be admitted as a friend of the court in the case between the Department of Human Settlements and the City of Cape Town in the disputed Tafelberg property sale.

A Cape Argus report says Herron submitted court papers detailing why he should be admitted as amicus curiae in the proceedings, expected to be heard in November.

There are 12 respondents, including the City of Cape Town.

In his affidavit, Herron says he has in-depth knowledge of the manner in which the city dealt with the portfolio of affordable housing within the City of Cape Town. He says he is well placed to assist the court with a decision in which the public interest and constitutional issues are at stake. Herron claims the city has failed to implement constitutional provisions intended to facilitate land distribution.

The Tafelberg site in Sea Point is one of the highly-contested sites.

In 2017, the provincial Department of Public Works said it intended to sell the property to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School for R135m.

Housing campaign group Reclaim the City and their partner Ndifuna Ukwazi brought a review application to the Western Cape High Court, arguing that the province and the city failed in their constitutional obligations to redress spatial apartheid in central Cape Town.

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