In the Bo-Kaap, residents are coming under increasing pressure from skyrocketing property prices and the resultant spike in rates.
Now residents say they are being pushed out of the historical area due to gentrification – when rich outsiders move in, forcing out poorer local communities and small businesses because they can’t keep up financially.
Bo-Kaap residents say property rates have increased by 300 percent while a standard semi-detached house now sells for a whopping R2.5 million.
The Bo-Kaap, with its cobblestoned streets and colourful houses has changed dramatically in recent years.
ICONIC: Bo-Kaap is the traditional stomping ground of Kaapse Klopse
The sought-after area on the edge of the Cape Town CBD has attracted big businesses and luxury home buyers.
In addition to its many mosques, the area now also has bars and clubs, guesthouses, cafés and renovated homes.
Families have been displaced because they can’t afford the rent anymore, while many sellers have made a profit, to the detriment of those who want to remain.
Earlier this month, in a last-ditch attempt to stop the construction of what is to become the biggest building on the edge of the Bo-Kaap, residents have filed an appeal against the decision by the Municipal Planning Tribunal that a R1 billion development in Rose Street would not affect the heritage resources of the area.