CAPE TOWN, Western Cape — In a joint media briefing, the GOOD Party and RISE Mzansi have put forward Brett Herron as their candidate for Mayor of Cape Town, setting the stage for a campaign focused on spatial transformation, housing access, and economic inclusion ahead of South Africa’s local government elections.
GOOD Party leader Patricia de Lille, speaking alongside RISE Mzansi’s Songezo Zibi, framed the candidacy around a clear mandate: dismantling the geographic and economic barriers that continue to shape life in the Mother City. “We must reconnect our communities to jobs, to education, and to opportunity,” de Lille said, stressing that Cape Town’s reputation for natural beauty must be matched by its commitment to human dignity.
Central to the coalition’s platform is the strategic use of underutilized municipal land. De Lille referenced a comprehensive land audit she initiated, which identified roughly 3,000 well-situated parcels absent from the city’s official asset register. “These are not remote plots—they are in areas where people need to live,” she noted, arguing that their development could directly support efforts to locate residents nearer to employment hubs.
The briefing also addressed affordability pressures in the housing market. De Lille pointed out that approximately 30,000 newly built units in Cape Town are concentrated within a handful of developments that significantly influence pricing. By contrast, she highlighted a prior initiative—spearheaded during Herron’s earlier municipal role—that released more than 26 well-located land parcels within a 5-kilometer radius of the central business district to encourage inclusive settlement patterns.
De Lille acknowledged that such efforts encountered political headwinds. “When I pushed to bring people back into the city center and release that land, the funders of the DA questioned the approach,” she recounted. “But redressing the spatial imbalances of our past is not optional—it is essential.”
A cornerstone proposal involves transforming dormant infrastructure into community assets. De Lille drew attention to Cape Town’s unfinished bridge structures, some incomplete for more than seven decades. Under a plan developed with Herron, city-owned land beneath these bridges would be allocated for affordable housing. The concept originated through a partnership with the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of the Built Environment and Planning, under the guidance of Professor Francis Peterson. Students were invited to reimagine these spaces, producing designs that addressed both traffic congestion and housing needs. Their work was showcased in a public exhibition in 2014, which De Lille said generated broad civic support.
Building on that momentum, the city reportedly set aside 750 million rand across a five-year period to tackle congestion, and by 2016 had begun engaging developers, financial institutions, and consortiums to submit development proposals for the corridor. Yet, according to de Lille, the initiative stalled due to resistance from those opposed to a more integrated urban fabric. “We were stopped by people who don’t want to see an integrated city of Cape Town,” she stated.
Endorsing Herron, de Lille emphasized his track record and alignment with the coalition’s vision. “I cannot think of anyone more equipped to look beyond Cape Town’s scenic appeal and ensure that every resident shares in its prosperity,” she said. She tasked Herron, should he be elected, with advancing the unfinished bridges project and accelerating the release of well-located land for housing.
Songezo Zibi’s presence at the briefing underscored the collaborative stance of GOOD and RISE Mzansi as they prepare for the local elections. Together, the parties are positioning Herron—a former city official with expertise in transport and spatial planning—as a candidate committed to practical, equity-driven urban renewal.
The coalition’s platform calls for measurable progress on affordable housing, improved mobility, and the creation of socioeconomic pathways that link marginalized neighborhoods to the city’s economic core. With Herron’s nomination, the GOOD-RISE alliance has signaled its intent to make spatial justice a defining issue in Cape Town’s electoral contest.