City leases Bowling Greens, when will the City lease Cissie Gool House (Old Woodstock Hospital) to its current residents?

On 7 October 2022, the City of Cape Town published a notice in the Cape Argus inviting interested parties to comment and/or object to its plans to grant the short-term lease of the Green Point Bowling Green at a nominal value of R3 000 per annum.

The plan to grant this land comes 4-years after the City had committed to using the land for mixed-income, mixed-use development including social housing.

In hopes to engage Cape Town’s Mayor on the plans of the City for this site and slow progress to the development of the site, members of Reclaim the City made their way to the open Government first Thursdays on 3 November 2022.

In the engagements with Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, the Mayor agreed that the Bowling Green should be used for housing.  When we asked about timeframes for the delivery of housing on the site, the Mayor stated he did not have the timeframes. We find this deeply unsettling. In light of the housing crisis Cape Town finds itself in, one would expect that the City would have a plan in place to make a dent in the ever growing housing crisis of over 359 000.

We are concerned with the growing trend of the City leasing land that should be developed for much-needed housing. Other sites like Rondebosch Golf Course and Mowbray Golf Course which are also being leased for nominal values of just under R10 000.00 per annum.

Seeing that the City can employ social care when particular pieces of land are concerned as conveyed by the Mayor in our conversation at First Thursdays, we make a request that the same rates be applied to lease Cissie Gool House (Old Woodstock Hospital) to the current residents.

The Mayor has time and time again referred to us as queue jumpers who are not on the housing list. This is an inaccurate statement, many of us are on the housing list and have been for decades. Had it not been for houses like Cissie Gool House and Ahmad Kathrada House in Green Point, we would have found ourselves on the streets. These houses responded to the urgent need of housing that the City failed to address.

We once again would like to appeal to the City of Cape Town to be innovative and use a collaborative approach in trying to resolve the housing crisis in Cape Town.

WATCH: Mayor Hill-Lewis agrees Green Point Bowling Green should be used for housing: https://youtu.be/OYbTxAROdLo

Contact:

• Miles Sampson, RTC’s Cissie Gool House leader, +27 84 010 0216

• Sheila  Madikane, RTC Ahmed Kathrada House leader, +27 71 513 3924