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In September this year, the DA wrote to Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille requesting clarity on whether her department intends on releasing six large tracts of land under her department’s custodianship for housing. These land parcels, which include Ysterplaat, Denel, Culemborg, Youngsfield, Wingfield and Upper Darling Street, could yield in excess of 93 000 affordable housing opportunities for low income Cape Town residents.

The Minister has this week responded to state that her Department has absolutely no plans to release these sites. De Lille’s refusal to engage either the Western Cape Provincial Government or the City of Cape Town on the release of these land parcels is enormously ironic, given that when she was Mayor of Cape Town she repeatedly called for them to be released for low cost housing.

Despite the Minsters refusal to come to the table, she ironically went on to state that “it is the duty of national, provincial and local government to deal with apartheid spatial planning and provide affordable housing opportunities close to work opportunities”.

She further erroneously noted as one bizarre justification for her refusal that the City of Cape Town had “cancelled the release of land for human settlements in areas including Woodstock, Salt River, Cape Town city centre, Green Point, Parrow and Claremont”.

This is completely incorrect and the Minster should know better.

In truth, the City of Cape Town has recently completed over 2168 social and gap housing units in Steenberg, Brooklyn, Bothasig, Scottsdene and opposite UWC in Belhar.

2488 units are currently in the process of construction in Belville, Goodwood Station, Heideveld Station, Pickwick Transitional Housing Site, Weltevreden Valley and Bothasig Phase two.

A great deal more social housing developments have also recently been approved for planning and construction on some of the very sites she notes as having been “cancelled for release”.

The cancelation was for the procurement process/method and not the projects. The projects are going ahead as planned. The city is now in the process of issuing the Request for Proposals (RFPs) on each of the cancelled RFP sites individually. These RFPs are now in the Supply Chain Management Process to be advertised by the first quarter of next year. These are the sites below :

• 600 units at Pickwick Street in Saltriver.
• 100 Units at Fruit and Veg site in Zonnebloem.
• 500 Units at New Market Street in Woodstock..
• 500 Units in Parow Precinct one.
• Other planned projects include:
• 850 units at Salt River Market
• 340 units in Pine Road and Dillon Lane, Woodstock
• 700 units at the Woodstock Hospital Site
• 200 units next to Woodstock Hospital
• 1236 units at Conradie Hospital Site, Pinelands
• 170 units in Stegman Road, Claremont

Given the work that the City of Cape Town is already doing to provide affordable, well situated housing to low-income residents, it is bitterly ironic that Minister De Lille continues to play politics by throwing stones at local government instead of coming to the negotiating table.

It seems the Minister has a case of the sour grapes – and is prepared to sacrifice the poor at the altar of her inflated ego, instead of doing what is right for the people she is supposed to serve.

Issued by The DA