Pavilion development protest at CAS

United in protest: The SEAFA meeting at the CAS gallery aimed at mobilizing a public protest to the planned Sea Point Pavilion development

What sort of Cape Town do we want: a seaside resort for the global rich, or a vibrant, diverse African city?

This was the question posed at a forum at the Centre for African Studies (CAS) on 5 March, where participants debated the planned development at the Sea Point Pavilion.

The forum is a response to the recent announcement that the Cape Town City Council has awarded a tender to a developer to erect a 52-bedroom hotel and a multi-storeyed shopping centre at the Sea Point Pavillion. The forum was organised by Seafront for All (SEAFA), a voluntary association that argues that the pavilion is public recreational space that serves Capetonians of all cultures and backgrounds, and if the development goes ahead, it will become an area used exclusively by a rich elite.

"Cape Town is not being designed for the people who live here," said visiting associate Zubeida Jeffer of CAS. "We're developing spaces just for wealthy people."

Attended by the media, activists and environmentalists, the forum was aimed at mobilising a public protest to the development.