Grassy Park residents have called for a moratorium on the sale or disposal of land at the Gilray Scouts campsite, located opposite Klip Road Cemetery.

This comes despite the fact that the location has fallen victim to a number of vandalism incidents and it is in a dilapidated and overgrown state.

According to residents, the City of Cape Town had made a decision to dispose of the pocket of land without a public participation process which recently culminated in a picket being held along Klip Road near Prince George Drive to “save Gilray”. 

At the picket held on Saturday, a memorandum was handed over to the ward councillor, which urged for a moratorium on the disposal of the pocket of land that holds historic significance for its residents and surrounds, having been used since the 1950s as a scouts campsite.

The recently established Grassy Park Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (GPRRA) said it has affiliated with the City of Cape Town Collective Ratepayers’ Association (CTCRA), an umbrella organisation that represents over 57 civic and ratepayers’ associations throughout Cape Town.

This was in further efforts to have their voices heard regarding the alleged plans to extend the Gilray Scouts campsite.

According to the GPRRA, no public participation process or public engagements were held to discuss future plans of the pocket of land. 

Further enquiries to the GPRRA were not answered by deadline.

In a petition filed, Grassy Park residents called on the community to support the Save Gilray interim committee’s demands that all forms of sale, alienation, leasing, or development of this land be halted pending full community consultation.  

“Gilray belongs to the people, not to private interests. We therefore insist that no sale, lease or development by third parties be pursued until such time as the community’s preferred development vision is fully tabled, adopted, and incorporated into the city’s planning frameworks,” the residents’ petition read.

The City of Cape Town’s Economic Growth Directorate, however, said the future use of the property is still under review. 

It added that the city has initiated a process to consider the disposal of the property – a process which is currently in the initial investigation phase.

“This process includes consultations with various city departments to determine whether the property is required for operational purposes. Should it be deemed non-essential, it will be classified as surplus to the city’s requirements and disposed of through a competitive process. Any future disposal or redevelopment will follow the due statutory process, including public participation,” said the directorate. 

The city acknowledged concerns about the Gilray property and said it noted that several possible uses were explored, including social housing and the expansion of the adjacent cemetery.

“None of these proposals received the necessary support,” the directorate said.

Meanwhile, GOOD Party’s Cape Town councillor Wesley Neumann said the fate of the public facility has become a symbol of how the city continues to prioritise private profit over public interest.

“This is not merely a zoning matter, it is a question of justice, governance, and the democratic right of communities to shape the future of their own public spaces. Public land is being treated as private real estate to be parcelled out to developers, without transparency or accountability.

“We reiterate our demand: the proposed sale of the Gilray Scouts Site must be halted immediately until full disclosure is made and a transparent, inclusive public process is undertaken. The community of Grassy Park will not be silenced. Nor will we accept a city that refuses to answer to its residents,” said Neumann. 

chevon.booysen@inl.co.za

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