Cape Town “killing field” to be used for housing
R7.6-million Seawinds park was stripped and vandalised
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Community leader Karen Mentoor stands among the ruins of the R7.6-million Smart Park in Seawinds. The City of Cape Town has approved a proposal that the site be used for housing. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks
The R7.6-million Seawinds park in Overcome Heights, Cape Town, which has been stripped and used by gangsters as a “killing field”, is to be turned into housing.
“A year ago, we had a gang war here in Overcome Heights. People were killed on this road,” said community leader Karen Mentoor, pointing out a bullet hole in the wall in her office. She described having to lie flat on the ground to avoid being hit by a stray bullet. She has lived in Overcome Heights for 23 years and said she wanted her children and grandchildren to live in a safer community.
When the park was opened in 2017, it had a water play area for younger children, a playground, two courts for ball games, a picnic area, and outdoor exercise equipment, according to Mayoral committee member for community services Francine Higham.
But two years later, the park was stripped by vandals.
All that remains is a dusty field with damaged brick structures and rusted skeletons of equipment.
Rival gangs on opposite sides of the field often shoot at each other across it. Mentoor says people have been robbed there. Residents told GroundUp that bodies are sometimes dumped there.
Overcome Heights informal settlement resident Nandipha Mputa says she is looking forward to the housing development. “There is a lot that is going to change with this housing project. We are staying in a small shack. Our roof is rotting,” she says.
“It has become a gangsters’ paradise, used as a killing field,” ward councillor Mandy Marr (DA) told a council meeting in August.
“We can’t say we are safe,” said Portia Cevula, one of the young community leaders in Overcome Heights. “Most of our people don’t come outside because they are scared.”
She said there was a need for a safe space for children as part of the new development. “We have a lot of talented young children, but they don’t come out to play anymore.”
At the council meeting, a proposal to officially close the park was approved to make way for the Overcome Heights Housing Project.
Overcome Heights community leader, Portia Cevula, says residents live in fear of gang violence and crime daily.
Carl Pophaim, mayoral committee member for human settlements, told GroundUp that the City was still in the planning phase of the development. He said approval could take about 18 months before construction could start.
The development would include pockets of open space for recreation, he said.
Mentoor welcomed the decision to develop the site for housing.
The informal settlement also often experiences flooding and fires. This week the settlement was hit by yet another fire in which 67 shacks and one formal dwelling were destroyed. Disaster Risk Management officials said 198 people had been affected.
Overcome Heights informal settlement was hit by a fire on Monday in which 68 homes were destroyed.
The park has become known as the “killing field” where rival gangs fight each other.
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© 2026 GroundUp. This article is published under the GroundUp Republication Licence Version 1.0. Email [email protected] to request permission to republish.