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The DA has today handed over a memorandum to the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure in the ANC government, Patricia de Lille, as well as to the Cabinet.

In the memorandum, the DA requests that the national government immediately surrenders its lease over Acacia Park and other parliamentary villages to provide housing for the people rather than politicians.

These facilities currently house a handful of Members of Parliament while the people suffer homelessness and housing shortages. Instead of leasing and maintaining this enormous 57-hectare property, Members of Parliament should be given housing vouchers which they can redeem for accommodation in Cape Town. This will save the state millions of Rands currently wasted on maintaining these properties. Once the lease has been surrendered, the DA-led City of Cape Town will negotiate to buy Acacia Park and partner with the private sector to build homes for thousands of Capetonians on this well-located land.

The DA’s memorandum also requests that the national government immediately begin the process to sell, terminate lease agreements or otherwise release the following mega-properties to the City of Cape Town for development in partnership with the private sector: Ysterplaat, Wingfield, Youngsfield and Culemborg.

Where small parts of these properties are currently utilised by the military, the national Cabinet must resolve to move these military operations to a site located well outside the urban edge of Cape Town. These military sites were created at a time when Cape Town was much smaller, but given the way in which the city has grown, the land on which they operate is now urgently needed for housing development.

Given the cruel, callous and vindictive manner in which the national government and the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure have consistently rejected Cape Town’s constructive requests to release national government-owned land for housing, this memorandum serves to inform the Minister and her ANC Cabinet colleagues that we will not give up on this fight for the people of Cape Town.

Issued by DA City of Cape Mayoral Candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis