A landmark judgment has set aside the sale of the Tafelberg school property in Sea Point, ordering the Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town to ‘address the legacy of apartheid spatial planning in central Cape Town and its surrounds’.

This was the instruction of Western Cape High Court Judge Patrick Gamble, with Judge Monde Samela, in the long-running case regarding the Tafelberg school in Sea Point, notes a News24 report.

The provincial government sold the site to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School NPC in November 2015 for R135m. But this was challenged by the organisations Reclaim The City, Ndifuna Ukwazi and several individuals. Among them was Thomaza Angela Adonisi, a nurse, who collaborated with several ‘working class’ residents to promote ‘the right to land’ in Cape Town.

In a summary, the court explained 10 core issues in its full judgment, including that ‘the province had not correctly applied the provisions of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, 2007, in disposing of the state land upon which Tafelberg is situated, in that it did not first offer the land for use to the provincial Department of Housing’.

It also ordered the province and the city to now ‘draw up a combined policy in order to address their respective breaches of the Constitution’ and to report back to the court in that regard by 31 May 2021.

The province and the city were ordered to pay Reclaim the City's costs.

But the judgment did not stop there. In response to a second application in the matter, the court also ruled the national Minister of Human Settlements should have been consulted on the sale of the land. Re-confirming its earlier ruling, the court also granted the application by the Minister of Human Settlements and her department to review and set aside the sale of the property – and ordered the province to pay the Minister's legal bill.

In response to the ruling, Mandisa Shandu, a director at Ndifuna Ukwazi, reportedly told News24: ‘We argued that the city, as well as the province, has an obligation to redress apartheid spatial planning, by using land for affordable housing.’ The court had agreed.

Full News24 report

Judgment

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has welcomed the ruling, which she says has made it possible for the government – through the Social Housing and Regulatory Authority – to build housing units.

It would also help redress ‘spatial apartheid’ in Cape Town, the legacy of segregation imposed by the apartheid government through its pre-1994 spatial plan, notes a TimesLIVE report.

‘We remain committed to responding to the housing needs of our people. This will only be achieved if we have access to well-located land parcels and spheres of government availing such state-owned land for human settlements development,’ said Sisulu.

‘I sincerely hope that all affected parties will respect and abide by the High Court ruling and put first the needs of the people we are here to serve. We should all focus on restoring the dignity of our people through the provision of decent and affordable accommodation.’

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said they take note of the judgment and would study it.

Full TimesLIVE report