Victory for PHA activists after court overrules plan for 30 000 houses on Philippi land

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Cape Town - Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) activists have claimed victory after the Western Cape High Court ruled against the provincial government, the City and developer Oaklands City to build over 30 000 homes in the area. “The judgment speaks a lot to the aquifer and water. It’s high time that we start thinking about the aquifer in a particular way, I believe the aquifer has rights and the judgment speaks to these rights to exist,” PHA Food and Farming Campaign chairperson Nazeer Sonday said. He said that over the last few months there had been growing perception that the campaign was against housing. “It’s not true we are just asking the City that has removed over 200 hectares from our area, for who are the houses? We need homes for our labourers, our farmers who live in informal settlements. We cannot solve the City’s housing crisis.” In the judgment on Monday, Judge Kate Savage ruled that the rezone permission and environmental authorisations for the development known as Oaklands City were suspended and must be returned to their respective appeal bodies for reconsideration. Susanna Coleman, of the PHA Food and Farming Campaign, said the judgment provided parties no grounds for appealing.

“The judge has taken a conservative approach which we are pleased with because she has suspended both the environment authorisation and the planning and rezoning. Across the country there has been rulings that show that we need to take into consideration climate change but this is the first time a judge has instructed a City and a municipality that they have to take into account the water supply and the importance of that water supply has come up based on the fact that climate change is going to make that an even more imperative part of City planning.”

Initially, Oaklands City, the developers, intended to build about 30 000 homes in the area.

Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell’s spokesperson, James-Brent Styan, said: “The MEC welcomes the fact that a judgment in this matter was done expeditiously. The minister has noted that most of the PHA Action Group and Sonday’s allegations were struck out by the court.”

Mayco member for spatial planning and environment Marian Nieuwoudt said: “While the court ordered the City to reconsider one limited issue concerning an aspect of the aquifer, the court dismissed all other complaints against the City. The court dismissed the vast majority of the application against the City and instead confirmed the correctness of the City’s position to the fact that the Oakland land is not part of the PHA, it is not farmed.”

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