The Auwal Mosque in Bo-Kaap, the oldest in South Africa, is next to the site for the development.
- The City of Cape Town is expected to make a decision on the future of a proposed six-storey hotel and restaurant in Bo-Kaap.
- Residents are objecting to the scale of the development, saying it will overshadow the oldest mosque in the country.
- The developers argue that they have had extensive engagement with residents and had made changes like adjusting the windows away from the mosque.
Arguments for and against a proposed six-storey hotel in the historic suburb of Bo-Kaap were heard on Tuesday by the City of Cape Town’s advisory panel for appeals.
“Emotions are running high,” said Osman Shaboodien, chairperson of the Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association. “I would like to see some sense and peace prevail so we can walk away from here making a historic decision,” he said, while asking the panel to consider the size of the development.
But the development company has argued that the objections before the panel aren’t any different from those raised previously. It says they were addressed during its engagements with the community.
In July GroundUp reported on the proposed six-storey development planned for the Bo-Kaap that residents said would significantly impact the heritage of the area.
The Auwal Mosque, the first mosque established in South Africa, is just ten metres from the planned hotel and restaurant to be built on what is currently an empty lot at 150 Buitengracht Street.
The Municipal Planning Tribunal approved Flyt Property Investment’s development in July but community members objected to this and have opposed other large developments in the suburb.
At an appeals meeting on Tuesday, community member Rafiq Jacobs told the panel that any development near the mosque should be lower than the minaret (used to project the call to prayer).
“The Auwal Mosque and the people who have called this place home for centuries deserve nothing less than our respect and protection. I urge you to not just consider the height of a building. The height and spirit of Bo-Kaap must be preserved.”
Heritage expert Dr Stephen Townsend, on behalf of Bo-Kaap residents, argued that Bo-Kaap was in a Heritage Protection Overlay Zone (HPOZ). He said the community was merely asking that the developers amend their building plans to a “tolerable scale” that does not damage the HPOZ, the townscape and nearby heritage resources.
Ryan Flowers, asset manager at Flyt Property Investment, told the panel that the company had already had extensive engagement with the community.
“We decided that we would like to build something that fits a little bit better with the Bo-Kaap landscape. We don’t want a monstrosity. We want something that fits,” he said.
“I think often developers are painted with the brush of this just being about business and making those numbers work. We are normal people. We aren’t a massive developer,” he said.
Flowers said that one design change was that windows facing the mosque were adjusted. “As you’ll see those side windows were purposefully readjusted. We don’t feel like the objections raised are any different from those that were raised previously and addressed during the facilitation process. Every day that we hold up the development, it costs real money,” he said.
In response, Shaboodien pointed out a mural of Bo-Kaap outside the mayor’s office and said: “Bo-Kaap is the only treasure we have.”
The panel is expected to make recommendations on the matter to the mayor in the coming weeks.
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Suicide Jockey
Archeologists in South Africa have just discoved what they think is the oldest tampon ever found
They are trying to find out what period it came from.
Taffy Duchess
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”