While the City of Cape Town’s move to make the Salt River Market precinct available for social housing has been widely welcomed, businesses at the site say they are concerned over their future.
The City tabled the release of the Salt River Market precinct for development and construction of social housing, as well as the release of a second, even larger site at Pickwick Road on Thursday July 28.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the Salt River site would deliver more than 200 social housing units within a nine-storey mixed-use development while the eight-storey Pickwick Road development would deliver a 600 social housing unit development at Pickwick Road.
Overall, the Salt River Market development will consist of 700 mixed market units, including 216 social housing units. The development will benefit from capital and operational cross-subsidisation through the inclusion of the open market residential units.
“We are making history by enabling this development right in the heart of the city, at Salt River Circle, close to social and economic amenities. Pickwick is a bricks and mortar example of how we are shortening land release time frames, having already completed public participation in just two months,” said Mr Hill-Lewis.
The move is a victory for social housing but now the fate of long-standing traders, who say they have not been consulted, hangs in the balance.
Zubaida Adams and her family have been selling fruit and vegetables at the market for generations. She said the business was in a junction and therefore they had a lot of foot traffic.
“We have not even thought about where we would move to or what would happen to our business if we have to move out,” she said.
Mohammad Asghar said their family run business had been operating at the market for over 100 years. He had taken over the business from his father-in-law 30 years ago and said he was shocked to hear the City’s plans from other people.
“No one came to speak to us or inform us of the decision. We don’t know what is going to happen to us. Are we going to be relocated, are we going to be compensated, we have many questions,” he said.
Gino Jacobs, who runs an antiques and plumbing business, said they are waiting for the City to come and talk to them on what the next steps are, and said they could not start planning as they did not know where they stand.
“The day before the announcement was made, we saw the mayor here and wondered what was going on. The next day we heard of his decision on the news. We are waiting for the City to come and address us because our livelihoods are at stake,” he said.
Malusi Booi, mayco member for human settlements, said the City engaged extensively with the local businesses and members of the public during the public participation process and considered and responded to the comments that were received.
“The City will look at all available options and will provide assistance to the affected businesses, where possible,” he said.
The property is in close proximity to key public transport interchanges. It is across the road from Salt River Station (where Northern, Central and Southern Lines converge), as well as MyCiti Route 261, which connects Century City to the City Bowl via Voortrekker Road, and Route 102, which connects Salt River Station to the CBD via Woodstock, Walmer Estate and District 6.
Anthea Houston, CEO for Communicare, a social entreprise NPO and the social housing partner for the Salt River Market project, welcomed the decision but said it was only the first step in the lengthy housing development process.
“Given the high level of gentrification in the Woodstock and Salt River areas, the sale is a significant spatial justice victory. We commend Mayor Hill-Lewis for boldly leading the City Council to approve this step in the right direction to address spatial inequality. It is wonderful that Council has finally responded to the cries of its constituents and social justice advocates, who have been calling for the site’s release for nearly a decade,” she said.
Social housing advocates Ndifuna Ukwazi applauded the mayor for fast-tracking the process but said they hoped to see the same effort going into completing the projects as soon as possible.
Social housing activist group Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi have advocated and protested the delay of these sites since 2017.
“While land release is an essential step to see affordable homes on the ground, the land for the Pine Road and Dillon Lane sites in the same area were approved for release in October 2019 and yet by July 2022 there are still no homes on the ground. These examples warn us that it may still be many years before we see homes on the Salt River Market site. The proof that there is political will to develop these sites will be in seeing people live in affordable homes on the sites,” said Robyn Park-Ross, researcher at Ndifuna Ukwazi
Development Action Group project Coordinator, Ryan Fester said this was a step in the right direction towards the goal of spatial redress and providing affordable living in a well-located part of the city.
DAG is an Observatory-based NPO which works with community based organisations across the country to unlock opportunities to access basic services, land, tenure rights and affordable housing.
“The Salt River Market is close to job opportunities, public transport services and education institutions. Low to moderate income households will benefit massively from this development,” he said.
