GOOD Party says Hill-Lewis is playing ‘Monopoly’ with Good Hope Centre sale

The sale of Cape Town’s iconic Good Hope Centre has ignited a fresh political battle, with the GOOD Party accusing mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis of treating the multimillion-rand transaction “like a game of Monopoly” after revealing that the preferred bidder had failed to secure the funding needed to complete the deal.

The criticism follows comments by Hill-Lewis that the city was considering awarding the property to the second-highest bidder after the successful bidder, a Nigerian-led church, failed to meet the financial requirements. He said he understood the second bidder, a Muslim institution, intended to include affordable housing as part of its plans for the site.

The centre made headlines in March when pastor John Anosike of Spirit Revelation Ecclesia announced to his congregation that the church had successfully bid R135m for the landmark property at a city auction.

GOOD said the city’s handling of the sale had exposed inconsistencies, a lack of transparency and a missed opportunity to use prime public land to address Cape Town’s housing crisis.

GOOD secretary-general and the party’s Cape Town mayoral candidate, Brett Herron, criticised Hill-Lewis for publicly discussing the possibility of awarding the property to another bidder before the process had been concluded.

“The mayor said the winning bidder at the auction for the iconic inner-city site, a Nigerian-led church, had failed to come up with the money, and he believed it would now go to the second-highest bidder. As an afterthought, he threw in that he believed the Muslim institution planned to develop some affordable housing on the site.

“It told you everything you need to know about the mayor’s disdain for the principle of spatial redress in Cape Town, where the delivery of public and affordable housing has rigidly adhered to apartheid spatial planning.

“The mayor is under pressure in an election year and, to let off some steam, he lets slip to a Muslim community radio station that the Good Hope Centre is being sold to a Muslim institution and, by the way, their plan includes some affordable housing,” he said.

Instead of selling the Good Hope Centre to the highest bidder, the city should properly maintain and manage the facility and build social housing on the land that surrounds it. That would be a powerful example of using a public asset for the public good

—  Brett Herron, GOOD secretary-general

Responding to questions from the Sunday Times before the mayor’s announcement, the city rejected criticism that it was mishandling the sale, saying it was conducting thorough due diligence before deciding whether the highest bidder had met all the conditions of the offer to purchase.

Racine Edwardes, communications officer in the city’s future planning and resilience directorate, said critics were oversimplifying a complex transaction involving one of Cape Town’s most strategically located public assets.

“Over the past few months, a chorus of keyboard critics, political opportunists and self-appointed experts has insisted that the city should simply rush to a decision, cancel the process or declare the transaction a failure. Apparently, in their world, a development opportunity of this scale should be handled with the same level of scrutiny as ordering takeaways. That is not how responsible government works.”

She said the sale was part of the city’s broader strategy to unlock underutilised public assets for economic development, housing, investment and job creation.

According to Edwardes, the highest bid submitted after the February 26 public auction was undergoing a comprehensive external due diligence process in line with the city’s supply chain management policy.

The city has received the preliminary due diligence report and is reviewing its findings before preparing a recommendation for the immovable property adjudication committee (Ipac), which will make the final determination.

She said the successful bidder must demonstrate not only the financial capacity to complete the purchase but also the ability to restore the centre, preserve its heritage features and deliver an appropriate mixed-use development for the surrounding precinct.

“The due diligence now under way is not a procedural formality. It is the level of scrutiny residents should expect from a city committed to good governance and responsible stewardship of public assets,” Edwardes said.

She added that the process included assessments of the bidder’s financial capacity, tax compliance, company registration, B-BBEE status, industry registrations, Coida compliance and ability to secure funding to meet all obligations contained in the offer to purchase.

Herron said the city should abandon plans to sell the property and instead retain it as a public asset while developing the surrounding land for affordable and social housing.

“Instead of selling the Good Hope Centre to the highest bidder, the city should properly maintain and manage the facility and build social housing on the land that surrounds it. That would be a powerful example of using a public asset for the public good. It would give effect to the GOOD Party’s founding principle of spatial justice and the Constitutional Court’s recognition that where people live matters.”