The Western Cape Government has extended an olive branch to organisations that sued it over the sale of an historic Cape Town school site.

This followed a judgment of the Western Cape High Court which overturned the sale.

In what a TimesLIVE report describes as an elaborate joint statement on Friday, Premier Alan Winde and Transport & Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said after considering the 200-page judgment, the province will take back the Tafelberg school site after the successful bidder indicated that it would no longer pursue the sale.

The Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School bought the site for R135m in 2015. The provincial government came under fire from organisations Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi. Although the province will now reconsider the property’s use and Winde and Madikizela reiterated their administration was committed to spatial planning redress, they said they had no alternative but to seek leave to appeal against the judgment in the SCA.

They added: ‘The Western Cape Government embraces the Western Cape High Court’s finding that we have a constitutional obligation towards the redress of the effects of spatial apartheid, in the context of both planning and resource allocation in the Western Cape. This has never been in dispute – not before, during or after the case.’

However, aspects of the judgment would affect the government's ability to deliver on its mandate to an extent that they amounted to judicial over-reach.

‘An appeal is still required in respect of the extensive nature of the finding and order of the court, given their impact for all government departments and organs of state which would, if unchallenged, be binding henceforth,’ they said.

Full TimesLIVE report

The appeal decision has been criticised by the national Department of Human Settlements, notes the Cape Times.

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s spokesperson, Yonela Diko, said: ‘The Minister has noted the futile attempts by the Western Cape Government to appeal the High Court judgment on the Tafelberg land and property and sees it as yet another unequivocal message that it rejects its constitutional responsibility to the people as per section 25 of the Constitution, which obliges it to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis. The province is clearly also rejecting section 26 of the Constitution which obliges it to take reasonable legislative action to achieve the progressive realisation of the right of citizens to have access to adequate housing.’ 

Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)