A 97-year-old Strandfontein woman’s six-decade wait for a government home has exposed systemic failures in Cape Town’s housing system.
Gadija Jaffer first applied in 1968, yet her family claims her application has been repeatedly altered—with a house allegedly promised to her given to another. Her daughter, Sheriff Jaffer, said officials shifted her mother’s application date from 1968 to 1994, then 2012, without explanation.
Councillor Elton Jansen confirmed the case is under review. The City of Cape Town admitted a housing subsidy was allocated to another family member, altering Gadija’s eligibility. Her record was formally placed on the housing register in 1988, but a 2020 data cleanup amended her status to 2012.
With 350,000+ people on Cape Town’s housing waiting list, activists call her case a “moral disgrace.”