Hands off our golf course! The fight continues to save Mowbray 'heritage' site
Last year, parts of land at the Mowbray Golf Club were greenlit for mixed-use development by the City of Cape Town.
Picture: @kingdavidmowbraygc/Instagram
Lester Kiewit speaks to Mike Flax, Chair of King David Mowbray Golf Club.
Listen below:
The City of Cape Town last year announced it had approved a mixed-use development for portions of the King David Mowbray Golf Club.
The site is in a prime location and offers excellent access to major employment hubs, amenities, and residential areas.
For this reason, said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis in an interview with CapeTalk in October, it is highly suitable for an integrated development that aims to promote spatial transformation, increase affordable housing, and improve public amenities.
Flax agrees that affordable housing is needed, but says the answer does not lie at the Mowbray golf course.
"Why take a viable asset of the city, that is a community asset?"
- Mike Flax, Chair - King David Mowbray Golf Club
Flax gives examples of the club's importance in the community, citing that it houses the SA Disabled Golf headquarters, and plays host to the City of Cape Town-sponsored global disabled golf championships.
It's also home to a golf foundation programme for many underprivileged children.
"We have over 2,000 members from every walk of life across the peninsula, including Cape Peninsula Golf Club, which we host, which is made up of previously disadvantaged people from the Cape Flats. These people won't have any other golf club that will take them in."
- Mike Flax, Chair - King David Mowbray Golf Club
Flax this week penned a letter to IOL, 'King David Mowbray Golf Club is a heritage site worth protecting'.
He wrote that, in addition to the economic and community impact, the use of the site for housing would mean the loss of an over 100-year-old heritage site.
"[It is] a very, very important heritage asset for the Western Cape. It's over 120 years old; the second-oldest golf course in the country. It's hosted the most South African Opens..."
- Mike Flax, Chair - King David Mowbray Golf Club
The City's plans would also threaten golf tourism, says Flax.
"It not only supports our local community but provides a very important tourist asset that provides nearly 25,000 visitor rounds a year."
- Mike Flax, Chair - King David Mowbray Golf Club
But, do the golfing luminaries who have visited the site over the years trump the needs of thousands of applicants languishing on the City's housing waiting list, counters Kiewit?
"I think there's a lot of other viable land parcels that are available for the City to develop. How many years have I been looking at District Six undeveloped? Huge swathes of land right in the centre of the city."
- Mike Flax, Chair - King David Mowbray Golf Club
Speaking to Keiwit in October, Hill-Lewis explained that after the King David Mowbray Golf Club's long-term lease expired in 2022, the club signed a 10-year lease in May 2024.
A significant aspect of this agreement is a two-year cancellation clause.
He emphasised that community members should know that the course is unlikely to remain a golf club as it is 'too precious property'.
"It's important that we start the process and it's important that we're honest about our intentions," he said.
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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.