The City of Cape Town plans to turn Harrington Square, a parking lot on the border of District Six, into a “multi-functional” civic space.
At the first public meeting on the future of Harrington Square in Cape Town, housing activists called on the City of Cape Town to transform the square, currently a parking lot, into housing.
Business owners at the meeting said they had concerns about loss of parking for clients.
Earlier this month, the City of Cape Town called for public comment on the “renewal and reshaping of Harrington Square”. The City intends to renew the area to make it “multi-functional, more accessible, safer, and inviting to the public while optimising the parking area for clients visiting the local businesses”.
Harrington Square is on the eastern side of the city bowl, on the border with District Six, and has fronts on Caledon, Canterbury and Harrington streets. Except for three small land parcels, it is owned by the City. The site is zoned as utility and is not part of restitution land for District Six.
In a statement before the meeting on Tuesday, Eddie Andrews, deputy mayor and mayco member for spatial planning and environment, said Harrington Square and the immediate surrounding area “have immense potential as civic spaces”.
“We want to reimagine these assets and see how they can be used to uplift the area, lead urban regeneration, and also strengthen the connections between the surrounding neighbourhoods.”
Resident Joscelyn Beukes said people returning to District Six should be prioritised for housing. She said her grandparents had forcibly removed from the area during apartheid.
Jasmina Salie, who used to live in District Six, said her family had been removed and sent to live in Hanover Park when she was 14. “Today, you see parking areas,” she said.
Resident Pieter Janse van Rensburg acknowledged the importance of green spaces but said, “I don’t think the City can afford to wait five years to address the housing problem.”
Buhle Booi, of housing activist group Ndifuna Ukwazi, said the metro has about 400,000 people on the housing waiting list. “It can’t be that cars would have a roof over their heads and people are living outside in the streets facing homelessness,” said Booi.
Ndifuna Ukwazi called for the parking lot to be converted into housing in a 2019 report.
The City plans a workshop on 9 May to discuss public inputs. Officials said there would be a session in June where more details of the project would be shared.
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Club Nola
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?
flashpoint
Fun South African Fact: The South African flag was used for the first time on Freedom Day 1994.