Housing plans for land in Weltevreden Valley are finally back on track.
The ground, Erf 2435, which had previously been under the custodianship of the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) is now back under the City’s control after more than a decade-long battle that included court applications and a bailout by the National Housing Finance Corporation.
On Monday 16 March the Manager of Social Housing and Gap Housing in the Human Settlements Department, Pogiso Molapo, presented the item to a Subcouncil 17 meeting at the Lentegeur Administrative office.
History
“It was owned by the City,” Molapo told councillors while recounting the history of what had happened with the 11,8-ha piece of land. “It was sold to the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) to develop institutional housing.” Such housing, he explained, was for those who qualified for a housing subsidy, “people who earned between R3 000 and R3 500 at the time.”
The sale was concluded in 2013, but the now-defunct CTCHC wasn’t able to develop the land, particularly after environmental and other necessary studies were conducted on the site, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2017.
“Owing to these financial difficulties the CTCHC notified the City of Cape Town that it would not be able to proceed with the development of the site,” Molapo said.
Furthermore, he said, the validity of the studies done on the ground also lapsed. “So since 2018 to date we have tried to get citizenship to look after the land.” The CTCHC had not maintained or secured the property, Molapo explained.
Stalemate
“The City took CTCHC to court several times for failure to look after the land and non-payment of its rates and taxes,” Molapo said.
Neither of these avenues bore fruit and eventually the City invoked a clause in the original sale agreement.
“We realised that obviously we’re not going to win,” Molapo said. “We then invoked clause 6.5 in the sale agreement, which allows the land to revert back to the City of Cape Town.”
This process was also stalled because CTCHC could not afford legal representation. “It took long because the CTCHC did not have funding to appoint conveyancers and also to pay for the rates bill that had been accrued.”
The National Housing Finance Corporation, which had bought the CTCHC by that point, bailed it out and the land was transferred back to the City at the end of last year.
“As the owner of CTCHC the corporation agreed to pay those costs and that of the conveyancers assisting us in getting the land transferred back to the City,” Molapo said.
He said now, more than 10 years after the original sale, the “stalemate” has finally been overcome.
Site preparation underway
The City has appointed contractors to clean and secure the property, and consultants have also been appointed to reinstate lapsed land-use rights.
The site will be released through a competitive tender process targeting affordable housing for the gap-housing market, serving households that earn too much to qualify for government housing, but who cannot afford market-rate properties.
Molapo added that the development has been added to the Mayor’s priority land-release programme.
Squatters
However, Councillor Joan Woodman, in whose ward the erf falls, expressed concerns about informal settlers on the property.
She revealed she had received more than 350 messages from residents asking what would be done about the ongoing problems at the site.
“We have been phoning the 021 487 7000 to have people removed from there, but it’s just not happening,” she told the meeting.
The councillor said residents had been fighting to have the land cleaned since 2018, and even a body has since been discovered on the property.
Molapo confirmed some contractors will be on site this month.
“The contractor has been on site,” he told councillors. “He’s sent us a quotation. Everything has been finalised. They should be on site this month, definitely.” Molapo said the City planned to use its Displaced People’s Unit to deal with the informal settlement before cleaning begins. If this approach fails officials will pursue legal eviction orders through the courts, he said.
