ConCourt rules Tafelberg sale unlawful, orders Cape Town and Western Cape to account for housing plans

By Johnathan Paoli

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town failed to meet their constitutional obligations to address apartheid-era spatial inequality, declaring the 2015 sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point unlawful.

In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday, the apex court found that both spheres of government had acted unreasonably in their approach to well-located land in Cape Town, and had failed to meaningfully advance the constitutional right to adequate housing in areas of economic opportunity.

Reading the judgement Judge Nonkosi Mhlantla highlighted the important questions this case raised in light of the ongoing legacy of apartheid and the project of transformation in the country.

“The submissions in these matters have highlighted the crucial distinction between merely distributing resources and ensuring that those resources are distributed in a manner that actively dismantles historical inequalities shaped by race and class