GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament
01 August 2025
After years of struggle and public pressure, there are encouraging signs that the Western Cape Government (WCG) is finally listening. At a follow-up public meeting held in Sea Point last night, consultants appointed by the WCG presented revised concept proposals for the redevelopment of the Tafelberg School site, now quietly renamed “353-on-Main.” These new plans reflect a shift in response to public calls for more social and affordable housing.
Where the initial proposals tabled two months ago offered as few as 63 social housing units, the preferred new design could deliver up to 252 social housing units, alongside 139 open market units and 92 affordable housing units. This marks a significant improvement and shows that sustained civic engagement can influence government decisions.
The shift is welcome, especially after a decade of resistance from the WCG and its protracted legal and political battle with housing activists. This iterative design process demonstrates progress, but it comes far too late.
Despite the new momentum, the timeline remains grim. We were told last night that land use and heritage applications will only be submitted in March 2026. Only after those approvals will a tender be issued to develop the site.
Given the painfully slow and often stalled (and sometimes abandoned) approach to inner-city housing delivery by the WCG and the City of Cape Town, the unfortunate truth is that we are still likely a decade away from seeing the first social housing unit completed at Tafelberg. This delay was entirely avoidable.
As promising as the current proposals are, we must not forget the years wasted, the lives affected, and those who died waiting. The fight for spatial justice in Sea Point continues and it should never have taken this long.