Dunoon residents’ housing hopes dashed
City plans mixed-income development not state housing for 72-hectare site
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Community leader Sinethemba Matomela says he worries that many Dunoon residents will not benefit from the City of Cape Town’s release of nearly 72-hectares of land at Annandale. Photo: Peter Luhanga
- The City of Cape Town announced the release of Annandale Farm, nearly 72 hectares of land near Dunoon, for affordable housing through public-private partnerships.
- The City plans a mixed-income development targeting households earning between R3,500 and R34,400 a month. It is not reserved for people from Dunoon only.
- This has angered Dunoon residents, who have been protesting for years for low-income and affordable housing to de-densify the settlement.
- Dunoon has about 1,700 housing applicants according to the ward councillor.
Sinethemba Matomela says he spent almost three decades moving between informal settlements around Dunoon, Cape Town, while waiting for a call from the local housing office.
Matomela, a former chairperson of the Dunoon branch of South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), moved to Cape Town in 1996. He lived in Khayelitsha, later in Philippi, before settling in 1999 in Doornbach, Dunoon. He lives with his family in New Rest informal settlement.
Matomela says he first registered for housing in 1996 and resubmitted his application three times since then. The most recent was in 2004, but he has never received a subsidised home. He says all four of his children were born in a shack.
In 2018, then mayor Patrica De Lille announced to a room full of residents at the Dunoon municipal hall that the Annandale Farm land would be used for affordable housing for them.
Matomela and many residents living in overcrowded settlements and backyards in the area thought their pleas for housing were finally to be answered.
On 6 August 2026, the municipality announced that it is releasing the nearly 72-hectare Annandale site along the N7, valued at approximately R256-million, for affordable housing opportunities through public-private partnerships.
The City has done preliminary feasibility assessments and has invited developers to submit proposals by 21 October.
The municipality has proposed a mixed-income neighbourhood that will have affordable housing, residential development, transport infrastructure, community services, educational facilities, and commercial and retail spaces. Housing will be subject to affordability, along with other criteria.
But it is unlikely that the homes to be developed will only be for people from Dunoon.
This has angered many Dunoon residents, who have been protesting for years for low-income and affordable housing to de-densify the community.
Broken promises
According to Matomela, residents were told that the City had recognised that Dunoon had expanded rapidly without a corresponding subsidised housing programme, and that Annandale would help meet the township’s housing needs.
He recalled former human settlements minister Lindiwe Sisulu during the pandemic in 2020 announcing the relocation of 1,500 families from densely populated informal settlements to Killarney Gardens.
The relocation never happened, and the Killarney Gardens project remains incomplete.
“They can see informal settlements piling on top of one another, but no serious consideration is given to how overcrowded Dunoon has become,” said Matomela.
Ward 104 councillor Bulelwa Mayende, who was elected in a by-election in March, said she inherited a ward with overcrowding and inadequate housing, where about two-thirds of households live in informal structures, often amid sewage spills and the persistent threat of shack fires.
“The (Annandale) land is directly opposite Dunoon and was bought by the City in 2017 with public money for one clear purpose: to relieve overcrowding in Dunoon,” said Mayende.
The municipality has a list of more than 1,700 housing applicants in Dunoon, she said.
“The poorest residents of Dunoon will get no relief from this sale. They will watch homes they believed were meant for their community being built for people who can afford them,” she said.
Mixed-use housing
According to a statement by the City, the development will target households earning between R3,500 and R34,400 a month. It is yet to be determined whether the homes will offer rent-to-buy options.
Brett Herron, GOOD party secretary-general, has questioned the City’s decision to release the property to developers. He was the mayco member for urban development in 2017 and had announced the City’s decision to buy Annandale to relieve extreme overcrowding in Dunoon.
“Dunoon and surrounding communities have a severe housing crisis and there is no land available in Dunoon for expansion,” said Herron.
GOOD wants the City to consider using the land to address the housing issue in Dunoon and other communities. Herron said he wanted the municipality to honour what the land was purchased for.
“The current development proposal is unlikely to benefit everyone struggling with housing in Dunoon or anywhere else … although there is a request in the proposal for ‘affordable housing’, this is not free basic housing, social housing or any state subsidised product,” said Herron.
Carl Pophaim, mayco member for human settlements, told GroundUp that the City disputes that Annandale was bought specifically for the benefit of Dunoon residents.
“The property was purchased to be developed as mixed-use residential. It was never purchased with the intention of developing Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing for people earning under R3,500,” said Pophaim.
The project is part of the City’s affordable housing development.
Pophaim encouraged Dunoon residents who meet the criteria to apply.
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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.