When property developer Anver Essop bought land in Cape Town’s gang-ridden Cape Flats area, people laughed at him for considering it an investment.
Now, 12 years later, the Watergate Estate is a sought-after refuge that will soon be donned with solar panels funded through an online leasing platform, making it, Essop hopes, a “blueprint” for green, safe and cheap homes across SA.
The marketplace, Sun Exchange, allows people to buy individual solar cells with cash or bitcoin and then lease them to power solar projects in emerging economies, resulting in lower electricity costs for residents.
“We thought, why don’t we give people the same product we build in wealthier areas and uplift them to improve their own lives,” Essop, 61, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Essop, who founded development company New Age Properties, said the Watergate estate seeks to solve two pressing issues in the country: the need for safe, affordable housing and reliable, clean energy.
SA is battling high levels of inequality, crime and unemployment and a housing crisis linked to booming urbanisation.
The government has subsidised about 14% of SA homes since 1994 — or 2.3 million properties — according to official statistics, but housing rights groups say there is a major backlog in the rollout.
