Object to the Rondebosch Golf Course lease

C4Cat

C4Cat

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On 29 January 2020, the City of Cape Town asked the public to submit comments or objections to their plans to renew the lease of 45,99 hectares of City-owned land (the equivalent of 45 rugby fields or a small suburb) to the Rondebosch Golf Club for a period of ten years at a nominal rental of R1 058 per year – or just R88,17 per month [1]. This prime land is close to the best hospitals, top-performing schools in the province, a police station and two train stations – making it perfect for the development of affordable housing. Yet the City plans to lease this land to a golf club for the exclusive use of its wealthy members, members that can afford to pay membership fees of R17 000 per year [2].
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awethu.amandla.mobi

Cheap rent for the rich? Object to the Rondebosch Golf Course lease

Cape Town is the most spatially divided city in the country - it is still separated along race and class lines. The City has consistently blamed this spatial injustice on the lack of well-located land that could be used for affordable housing. But the City often misses the most obvious...
awethu.amandla.mobi awethu.amandla.mobi
You have the power to stop the City of Cape Town’s unsustainable and exclusive use of public land. But we have to act now, we only have until Monday 9 March 2020 to make our voices heard. Make a submission to object to the lease renewal of 45,99 hectares of prime public land that should be used for affordable housing.

In the face of the worst housing affordability crisis in the country, the City of Cape Town continues to subsidise the rich by renting out prime state land at massively discounted amounts for private use – land that could better be used to reverse the City’s apartheid legacy.
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It serves as a green lung and a flood plain, and is immediately adjacent to the Black River which hosts an amazing variety of water birds. All of those aspects would highly likely be impacted negatively should the area be developed. I have no interest in golf courses as such, and I think that rental needs serious investigation, but I do care about the environment.
 
Nah, affordable housing will ruin the upmarket character of the suburb. I'm quite fine with people enjoying the leisurely aspects of life.

Having said that, the lease should be investigated.
 
The golf course should be paying R100k pm in rent easily. Property specialists should be consulted to determine the value of the land and a reasonable rental amount.
 
Marsie27 said:
It serves as a green lung and a flood plain, and is immediately adjacent to the Black River which hosts an amazing variety of water birds. All of those aspects would highly likely be impacted negatively should the area be developed. I have no interest in golf courses as such, and I think that rental needs serious investigation, but I do care about the environment.
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They need to not develop this land at all.

They can up the rental and build houses elsewhere.
 
Lol, 'politicking' again.

Why are they picking on the golf course? There is plenty of land along the Swartriver not in use, it's not in use because it's a fscking flood plain! The golf course is situated on that very same flood plain, a golf course getting flooded is not exactly a disaster.

Wrt to the rent, how much is flood plain land worth, you can't charge the same as for other lands. That said the current amount does seem low, look at the cubs books and negotiate a higher rate if they can afford it.
 
killerbyte said:
The golf course should be paying R100k pm in rent easily. Property specialists should be consulted to determine the value of the land and a reasonable rental amount.
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I've got no idea what it costs to play golf and how much revenue they would generate but maybe a revenue linked rental is the way to go.

100k might be way too much or way too little, I have no idea.

If it is too much it's a bit silly as they would basically kill the business and then the land either goes vacant for 10 years or gets taken over anyway.
 
SauRoNZA said:
I've got no idea what it costs to play golf and how much revenue they would generate but maybe a revenue linked rental is the way to go.

100k might be way too much or way too little, I have no idea.

If it is too much it's a bit silly as they would basically kill the business and then the land either goes vacant for 10 years or gets taken over anyway.
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Each member pays R17k a year. And I promise you that they have a few hundred members.
 
killerbyte said:
The golf course should be paying R100k pm in rent easily. Property specialists should be consulted to determine the value of the land and a reasonable rental amount.
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It's not a larney club. It's situated on a flood plain, you cannot build houses or commercial property there.

There is lots more vacant land along that river bank, also part of the flood plain, why is it not being used? Why specifically single out the only used part of the flood plain? I'll tell you why, cheap politics. Target something people might associate with exclusive & white to drive a narrative.

I say give the people what they want, cancel the lease and build low cost housing there, next flood they can all drown and then blame the DA for their stupidity. A golf course flooding is not a big deal, it acts like a buffer for the properties further away, build on it and you are probably gonna flood an even greater area as concrete and tar roads are not exactly a good drainage system.
 
killerbyte said:
Each member pays R17k a year. And I promise you that they have a few hundred members.
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BS That's the top tier package, not everybody signs up for that. Golf course maintenance is fsck expensive, you need access to their financials to make a fair assessment.

Edit: I don't know how this club is registered but if it's like most other sports clubs then they could be a non-profit business and the laws wrt tax etc differ for them but I don't know the details.
 
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Even if some golf members pay R17k per year, we must remember that those members have hungry mouths to feed at home and they sacrifice food to pursue the passion. Why are we against passion?
 
This prime land is close to the best hospitals, top-performing schools in the province, a police station and two train stations – making it perfect for the development of affordable housing.
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Now they want to live in a Marina.
 
Endlessly discused on a prior thread. The topic is raised by single-issue political groups with no idea of spatial planning, and aimed to score cheap political points:

Report calls for golf courses and bowling greens to be used for low-cost housing

A radical new housing deal has been proposed to break apartheid barriers. While over half a million Capetonians live in informal settlements, the Rondebosch Golf Club pays the City of Cape Town only R1,000 a month for the use of 450,000 square metres of well-situated land. With a full...
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za
 
ponder said:
It's not a larney club. It's situated on a flood plain, you cannot build houses or commercial property there.

There is lots more vacant land along that river bank, also part of the flood plain, why is it not being used? Why specifically single out the only used part of the flood plain? I'll tell you why, cheap politics. Target something people might associate with exclusive & white to drive a narrative.

I say give the people what they want, cancel the lease and build low cost housing there, next flood they can all drown and then blame the DA for their stupidity. A golf course flooding is not a big deal, it acts like a buffer for the properties further away, build on it and you are probably gonna flood an even greater area as concrete and tar roads are not exactly a good drainage system.
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It doesn't change the fact that you can agree that the golf course is paying far too little in terms of rent. If what you are saying is correct and that its on a flood plain, and frankly I know from experience that golf courses provide homes to animal and bird life, then yes its better to not destroy it and use it for homes... but the rent is far too low.
 
RazedInBlack said:
This exactly!

Theres something seriously wrong with that current rental agreement.
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Rondebosch Golf Course is not the only entity that is paying way below market rates rental. No political will to address this, don't want to be agitating your electorate. Low cost housing is always a great idea, long as it is not in your neck of the woods. City/Province dragging their feet on the matter...bet you this will become a election hot potato as we approach the next local government elections.
 
killerbyte said:
It doesn't change the fact that you can agree that the golf course is paying far too little in terms of rent. If what you are saying is correct and that its on a flood plain, and frankly I know from experience that golf courses provide homes to animal and bird life, then yes its better to not destroy it and use it for homes... but the rent is far too low.
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I repeat:
ponder said:
Wrt to the rent, how much is flood plain land worth, you can't charge the same as for other lands. That said the current amount does seem low, look at the cubs books and negotiate a higher rate if they can afford it.
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ponder said:
BS That's the top tier package, not everybody signs up for that. Golf course maintenance is fsck expensive, you need access to their financials to make a fair assessment.

Edit: I don't know how this club is registered but if it's like most other sports clubs then they could be a non-profit business and the laws wrt tax etc differ for them but I don't know the details.
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As you can see I already stated that I reckon the rent is low. Instead of saying fscke'em charge them R100k per month I also acknowledged that I don't know whether they operate as normal profit-driven business or a non-profit sports club like most in SA do. I also did not assume every member paid R17k annually. I said I don't know their financials and that it would be best to look at their books and negotiate rent based on that.

If they can't manage higher rent then sell off any assets they can, lay off all the staff, lock the doors and hand the keys over to the city of ct.
 
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