Athlone Stadium Precinct: Planned, People-Centred Development Demanded

GOOD Statement by Suzette Little , GOOD Deputy Secretary-General & City of Cape Town Caucus Chairperson:

Athlone Stadium is more than concrete and turf, it is the beating heart of Cape Flats sport, culture, and community. It deserves a future rooted in thoughtful planning, not short-sighted land disposals.

The GOOD Party has lodged a formal submission objecting to the City of Cape Town’s proposed disposal and redevelopment of a portion of the Athlone Stadium precinct, specifically the public parking area on Remainder Erf 32604 in Kewtown, for mixed-use private development. A community petition has also been launched in support of this objection.

GOOD does not oppose development in Athlone. In fact, we have repeatedly called for integrated, inclusive investment in the broader Athlone precinct. But this proposal does not reflect a well-considered vision, it’s the latest attempt to impose a fragmented development plan on an area that deserves coherence, consultation, and community focus.

For the first time, the City is proposing the sale of public land, despite the fact that there are multiple other vacant pieces of land in the area, none of which have been used for housing. The current proposal is not about addressing a housing crisis; it’s about forcing a commercial and residential development that doesn’t align with previous planning or community needs.

GOOD has consistently advocated for the Athlone Stadium precinct to be developed as a dedicated sporting and cultural hub, much like the Green Point Precinct, where accommodation is not situated directly adjacent to the stadium and where the precinct functions effectively as a sporting zone.

Selling off the parking lot for R17.6 million makes no financial or functional sense:

• It will do little to address the substantial costs required to upgrade the stadium to SASREA compliance.
• It introduces residential units mere metres from a live event venue, opening the door to future noise complaints that could shut down events fundamental to the precinct’s identity.
• Removing this parking space undermines event safety, accessibility, and emergency response.
• It threatens the livelihoods of informal traders who depend on foot traffic during events.
• Above all, it chips away at a cultural heritage space on the Cape Flats.

Mayor Hill-Lewis and Alderman James Vos have shifted the precinct’s vision without genuine engagement, replacing long-standing community uses with commercial priorities. They are busy overseeing the loss of the Athlone velodrome, whilst the community still lacks access to Cape Town Stadium. This latest proposal only continues a pattern of exclusion and erosion.

We cannot allow a consultant-driven, ad hoc development process to waste resources and alienate communities.

GOOD calls for:

• An immediate halt to the sale of the Athlone Stadium parking area.
• A comprehensive, transparent review of the four development plans proposed for Athlone to date.
• The declaration of the precinct as a Cultural Heritage and Special Use Zone, protected for future generations.

This is not just a fight over parking space, it’s a fight for community.

GOOD Social Welfare: GOOD supports social welfare programs aimed at assisting the vulnerable.

Read More at the Source