The City of Cape Town says a final decision on the proposed sale of the Good Hope Centre has not yet been made, with an external due diligence process now in its final stages.
The update comes four months after the iconic inner-city venue was auctioned and amid renewed calls from the GOOD Party for the sale to be scrapped in favour of a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing.
Responding to questions from the Capetowner, the City’s Mayco member for Economic Growth, James Vos, said the Good Hope Centre was placed on auction on Thursday, February 26, and that the highest bid received remains subject to an extensive post-auction review process.
“The due diligence process is currently in the final stages, and the City anticipates receiving the outcome report in due course,” he said.
Vos said that once the report is received, recommendations will be submitted to the City’s Immovable Property Adjudication Committee (IPAC), which will make a final decision on the bid.
The proposed sale has been controversial since before the auction.
Ahead of the auction, civil society organisations and community activists staged protests outside the Western Cape High Court and at the Good Hope Centre, objecting to the sale of more than 50 City-owned land parcels("Community protests against the auction of the historic Good Hope Centre," Capetowner, February, 24)
At the time, demonstrators argued that public land should be used to address pressing social needs, including affordable housing, rather than being transferred to private developers.
An urgent court application was also launched in an attempt to halt the auction.
In a statement issued last week, GOOD secretary-general and Cape Town mayoral candidate Brett Herron called on the City to cancel the sale and commit to redeveloping the site as a mixed-use precinct that includes affordable housing.
“The City of Cape Town must stop hiding behind its alleged Good Hope Centre auction review process, swallow its pride, cancel the ridiculously inappropriate sale, pay whatever penalties are due, and publicly commit to using the precinct as a mixed-use development including affordable housing,” Herron said.
He argued that the precinct should remain available for public benefit and questioned why a final decision had not yet been announced.
However, Vos said the City was not in a position to confirm the bidder's identity or the bid's value while the due diligence process remains incomplete.
“This is to protect the integrity of the process and to avoid prejudicing any party before due diligence is complete,” he said.
Asked whether the City was considering cancelling the sale, Vos said it would not pre-empt the outcome of the external review process and that a final decision would be made by IPAC once all assessments had been completed.
According to the City, the due diligence process includes assessments of financial capability, regulatory compliance, relevant experience, statutory declarations and the bidder’s ability to secure funding to meet the conditions of the offer to purchase.
Responding to criticism that the site should instead be used for affordable housing, Vos said the disposal of City-owned properties forms part of the City’s Consolidated Land Release Programme and takes into account factors including socio-economic impact, heritage considerations and the City’s broader housing pipeline.
“The City's housing programme is delivered through a dedicated portfolio of sites specifically designated and budgeted for affordable and social housing delivery, separate from sites identified for mixed-use commercial redevelopment such as this precinct,” he said.
Vos said that redevelopment conditions attached to the sale include requirements relating to heritage preservation and community access.
He said the City’s land release programme aims to unlock economic value from underutilised municipal assets and generate revenue that can be reinvested into service delivery.
Vos also noted that legal challenges seeking to halt the Good Hope Centre auction and the wider land disposal programme were dismissed by the Western Cape High Court.
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