Plans for the land on Circle and Gie roads, Table View have been in question ever since a notice board went up there in 2015, announced that an application had been made to rezone it from educational to residential use.
It was discovered that the land had been given to the Flandorp family in restitution for the property they had lost in Goodwood, Parow and Elsies River during the apartheid era’s forced removals.
The Flandorps want to develop the land for large scale residential units.
Table View resident Ronelle Rooyen started an online petition in 2015 calling on residents to object to the development, which many believed would be low-cost housing that would later become a slum.
However, trustee for the Flandorp family, Robert Flandorp, dismissed these claims (“Uproar about land development,” Tabletalk March 11, 2015).
Recently, on the Table View Neighbours Facebook page, residents started asking about the progress of the development and the outcome of their objections.
Chanel Keulder said: “Has anyone got an idea what is going to happen to the open space on the corner of Gie and Circle roads?
“We signed a petition against low-cost housing but have not heard anything as yet.”
Erika Van Rooyen said: “I have also asked the same question but no one seems to know.”
Justin Mostert added: “The word that has been going round was that the land on the Gie/Circle roads corner would be for a school. Then the story changed to the low-cost housing development to take place there.”
City spokeswoman Priya Reddy said the City was still waiting for information from the Office of the State Attorney before deciding on the rezoning application.
“At this point in time, the objections received have not been evaluated. Approximately 300 objections were received. Changes have been made to the layout after all of the comments were referred to the applicant, including the objections,” said Ms Reddy.
Mr Flandorp said the land rezoning application was in its final stages of approval and revealed that a portion of the land had been allocated to build a school, while another would be used for a clinic or some other public facility.
“Changes have been made as indicated as requirements by the City, as plans have to be in line with the City requirements. It has been two years since we made the original application,” said Mr Flandorp.
The then chief director of restitution support at the Land Claims Commission, Michael Worsnip, had previously said in (“Uproar about land development,” Tabletalk March 11, 2015) that the development of the land would work towards the normalisation of the area and that the City would hold a public participation process before approving any rezoning.