Families residing in Shelley Road, Salt River, face a precarious situation as the City plans to sell their homes.
On June 26, multiple households received notices from the City, indicating that their tenancy and lease might be terminated due to the City’s intention to sell the properties. The notices also instructed residents to make their homes available for scheduled viewings.
Sheradia Brown, 62, who has lived in her two-bedroom house her entire life, expressed deep concern. She shares the home with her husband, who is battling cancer, along with her daughters and grandchildren.
“For years now, almost 40 years, we’ve been fighting for these houses. That is something my mother has been fighting for all these years.”
Joy Mary Adriaan, 64, another resident, recounted her struggle with the City in 2019 when there was an attempt to raise her rent from R243 to R5 500. She sought assistance from Ndifuna Ukwazi and successfully won her case.
“The City did not mention providing alternative accommodation but hopes the rental would be in the same range.”
Sulaiman Appoles, an executive member of the Salt River Residents Association (SRRA), suggested a connection between these notices and the ten-storey residential development currently under construction at 17 Shelley Road.
“As the SRRA, we are pursuing the investigation of the approval and construction of that development. In the end, this all forms part of a pattern of City actions – all of it carefully designed to replace long-standing residents with wealthier classes of people, including from Johannesburg. Gentrification is the policy, unstated policy of the City of Cape Town with respect to Salt River, Woodstock.”
The City confirmed that nine households were issued notices. When questioned about the reason for selling these properties, the City stated that the properties were deemed surplus to their needs, and the Council had approved the disposal back in 1999.
