A growing chorus of voices in Bo-Kaap is urging the City of Cape Town to step in as short-term rental platforms continue to reshape one of the country’s most historic neighbourhoods.
Locals say the rapid rise of Airbnb-style accommodation is placing their heritage, culture and long-standing community bonds at risk.
The Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association (BKCRA) says the trend of family homes being swapped for tourist lodgings is dismantling the social fabric that has held the area together for generations. The organisation calls Bo-Kaap ‘the ancestral home of Islam in South Africa’ and insists the neighbourhood was always meant to remain a residential community.
Their concerns follow figures reported by GroundUp, which revealed that an estimated 70% of residential properties in the inner-city are already being used for short-term letting under the City’s new Local Spatial Development Framework. Although Bo-Kaap sits just outside that designated zone, residents say the effects are being felt sharply on their streets.
Sheikh Dawood Terblanche, chairperson of the BKCRA and an imam in the area, says families who have occupied the same homes for decades are now being edged out as property prices skyrocket. He says the boom in holiday accommodation has ‘warped the property market’, pushing out long-term locals, particularly the elderly, who cannot compete with the profits generated by tourism.
Many residents say the changes go beyond escalating costs. Some describe feeling like outsiders in their own neighbourhood as newcomers and visitors clash with long-standing cultural traditions, from the daily Islamic call to prayer to the lively Kaapse Klopse celebrations, as reported by GroundUp.
Community worker Masturah Adams, who runs a weekly soup kitchen, says the need for affordable housing has reached crisis levels. ‘People have been on the waiting list for more than 30 years,’ she says, as quoted by GroundUp, stressing that there has been ‘no movement’ toward making suitable land available for lower-cost homes.
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Adams adds that some visitors staying in short-term rentals show little regard for the community, reporting late-night parties and disruptive behaviour.
The frustration has simmered for years. In 2019, BKCRA secretary Faa-iekah Ryland and several residents were arrested during a protest outside an Airbnb property. She maintains the protesters were unfairly targeted after the manager allegedly encouraged foreign guests to lay false complaints. Those guests later left the country and never appeared in court.
The association fears that without intervention, young people raised in Bo-Kaap may soon be priced out entirely.
The BKCRA is urging the City to enforce zoning laws more strictly so that residential properties cannot be turned into full-time holiday rentals. The group wants a formal registration and licensing system for such units, quotas to cap their numbers, and a rule requiring owners to live on the premises for most of the year.
City of Cape Town spokesperson Luthando Tyhlibongo told GroundUp that properties paying residential rates may not be used primarily for commercial activities. He said the City conducts ongoing investigations into land-use infringements and encouraged residents to report concerns.
Tyhlibongo added that the City is working on a system to register short-term rental units and ensure the appropriate commercial rates are applied. He also confirmed that underutilised land in the area is being considered for future affordable housing projects.
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