Rasool's closing-down sale?

Ever the self-righteous optimist, I was up at 6am on Boxing Day for the first of many runs along the glorious stretch of coastline that runs from Sea Point to Clifton and beyond.

But I was not the only person to hit the Atlantic Seaboard early that morning. By 6.30am, when I finally got moving, a long line of people had already formed at the art-deco entrance to the Pavilion — the public swimming baths. A half hour later, despite a howling wind and miserably grey light, people continued to stream out of taxis as they reached their Camps Bay destination.

For a few days a year, this one included, some of Cape Town’s finest assets are literally claimed by all. But even for the rest of the year, when tourists are gone and locals breathe a huge sigh of relief, the Sea Point promenade remains arguably the city’s premier open public space.

Graaff’s Pool may have been destroyed, along with its strange but beautiful mix of visitors, but the diversity of those who walk, jog or run along the stretch remains. Not everyone may be able to afford to buy or rent space in the suburb, but many are able to enjoy the walkway, being just a R4,50 taxi ride — or a short 30-minute walk — from the city’s main transport hub.

But much of this could soon disappear. According to non-profit group Seafront for All, a commercial development on both sides of the Pavilion is planned, comprising a hotel, a three-storey shopping complex, restaurants, a gymnasium and other shops. Earlier plans to “redevelop” the site came to nought shortly after the city became aware that it had wrongly assumed that it had the authority to grant consent for the use of the public space for this purpose.

Following more than 1 000 objections to the rezoning application and environmental-impact assessments, the project was abandoned. But in August 2007, the Western Cape provincial minister of environmental affairs and development planning granted conditional environmental approval. Seafront for All, which is of the view that the process followed was irregular, has vowed to “oppose the project to the end”. Importantly, the proposed development has yet to be granted rezoning approval.

For me, one way in which a city should be measured is by the way it fights for and secures public assets: housing, healthcare, transport and public spaces. This is particularly so in a city such as Cape Town, where communities are still horribly divided. Yet the one place where some barriers get broken down is now under threat. Just makes one wonder whose interests are being protected by the provincial administration, and which state assets are next.

Could this just be the beginning of Rasool’s closing-down sale?