Sterea Digital CC and Another v The City of Cape Town and Others

Sterea Digital CC purchased a residential property in a secluded neighbourhood in Durbanville, Cape Town, zoned Single Residential 1 (SR1). It applied under the City of Cape Town Municipal Planning By-Law, 2015 to rezone the property to Local Business 1 (LB1) in order to operate a mid-sized attorneys’ firm from the premises. The Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) refused the rezoning application, finding that it conflicted with the Northern District Plan (NDP), which sought to preserve the residential character of the area and prevent business creep. Sterea’s internal appeal to the City’s Appeal Authority (the former Executive Mayor) was dismissed. Sterea successfully reviewed those decisions in the High Court, but the City’s appeal to the full court succeeded. Sterea then appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal, alleging bias and failure to consider relevant considerations under PAJA.

The appeal was upheld in part. The full court’s order was set aside and replaced with an order upholding the City’s appeal and dismissing Sterea’s review application. No adverse costs order was made against Sterea.

The case reaffirms municipal autonomy over zoning and planning decisions and clarifies that strict adherence to spatial development frameworks does not amount to administrative bias. It underscores the limited scope of judicial review under PAJA and cautions courts against substituting their own decisions for those of competent municipal authorities. The judgment also illustrates the application of Biowatch principles to administrative-law disputes involving constitutional issues.