About Us	Search	Advertising

	Brought to you by:

STRIFE within the Ocean View community is hindering the way forward to building houses in Mountain View.

This is the message from Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille, after a meeting between her and the Ocean View Housing Steering Committee on Tuesday was interrupted by representatives from other organisations demanding to have a say.

The steering committee is the only committee in Ocean View to have gained official recognition from the mayor's office after housing protests in May last year.

The committee was constituted at a public meeting last year, addressed by the previous mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo. But at least seven other organisations want to be heard by the mayor.

Zille said she had set up the meeting with the steering committee to discuss the way forward for housing, but was obliged to address issues raised by the other organisations. "We can't discuss the real issue of delivery because there is conflict about who should be discussing it," Zille told The Post.

"One can't keep going back to square one. It showed me how much conflict there is in Ocean View."

When asked when work would start on the housing project already been approved for Mountain View, Zille said, "We could have started already if it wasn't for this wrangling". She said that she still needed to think of how to solve the problem of conflict in the community.

A member of the Ocean View Civic Association and the Kompanjiestuin Interim Committee, Shaheeda Rasdien, said the other organisations wanted to know why Zille had only called a meeting with the steering committee.

"If she doesn't include us, nothing will go forward."

She said the steering committee had been elected as a result of toyi-toying but that the other organisations have a mandate from groups of people within the community.

Shaheeda said the steering committee has jeopardised an agreement with the developers of the proposed Kompanjiestuin development. "We want to save the Kompanjiestuin project because the community needs it."

Two weeks ago, the new chairperson of the steering committee told the Kompanjiestuin developers that he wanted a postponement of the signing of an agreement between the developers and the community. One of the developers, John Schooling, responded that he considered this a rejection of the developer's offer to share some of the profits with the community.

	Back to top
©