Parents with children at Otters’ Creek Junior are scrambling to find space at other special needs schools.
Otters’ Creek Junior School teacher Ayesha Galant presents a lesson. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks / GroundUp
- Otters’ Creek Junior School in Ottery, which caters for learners with special needs, will have to close down next month.
- According to the City of Cape Town, the school has been operating without the necessary land use rights since it opened.
- Now parents are scrambling to find places at other special needs schools, which already have long waiting lists.
In less than a month, a school in Ottery that includes learners with disabilities will be forced to close its doors. This follows battles over zoning problems and noise complaints from neighbours.
According to the City of Cape Town, the property is currently zoned for housing and does not have a permit as a place of instruction.
Now parents are scrambling to try and find places at other special needs schools, which already have long waiting lists for admissions.
Otters’ Creek Junior director, Yumna Allie, and her husband bought the property in Ferness Estate in 2017. The school officially opened in 2018 with grades 1 to 3, then expanded to include grades 4,5,6 and 7. Otters’ Creek Junior is a registered private school with 98 learners, including some with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The school officially asked for the property to be rezoned for education in 2021, after having filed the wrong application in 2018. The rezoning application was denied. The City said this was because of noise complaints from a neighbour and failure by the town planner hired by the school to inform the City that the school had started leasing the adjacent church property as well.
Allie said their efforts to fix this since then have been unsuccessful.
On 9 September, the school was issued with a notice ordering it to close because it was in violation of zoning bylaws.
Allie says the school has been flooded with applications by parents looking for places for neuro-diverse learners who can’t be accommodated at most public schools. “What really makes us unique is that we have a special unit for learners with special needs, which includes individual support plans with occupational therapists on board,” she said.
Allie said they were shocked to receive the notice to close because they had hoped to re-apply to have the property rezoned. She said her requests to meet officials to discuss the matter were not answered.
Director Yumna Allie and her husband opened the school in 2018.
On the noise complaints, Allie said the school had conducted a noise impact assessment which found that they were within the stipulated bylaw. But this report was struck down by the City because the measuring device was placed in the centre of the playground and not at the neighbour’s wall, she said.
The City’s notice states that the school must cease activity by 11 November, a day after learners were scheduled to start their final exams.
Allie said the closure is devastating for learners at the school and for those hoping to be placed next year. “I feel this is extremely unjust.”
Parent Shana Nell told GroundUp that parents only heard about the closure of the school on 15 September 2025. “Finding placement for next year is especially stressful since applications are already closed,” she said.
Kimberly Mutandiro 8 Sep 2025 Municipality responds
Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning Eddie Andrews acknowledged the distress caused by the closure notice to the learners, school and surrounding community.
“However, the City is bound by the legal framework established under the Municipal Planning By-Law, 2015, which governs land use and zoning within the municipal boundaries. The property is zoned Single Residential 1 which does not permit a place of instruction as a primary land use right,” he said, adding that the decision to issue the notice to the school had followed a thorough review process.
“The school has been operating without the necessary land use rights since its inception, and despite multiple applications, the required approvals were not granted for various reasons.”
Andrews said the City would consider a new land use application from the school. “We encourage Otters’ Creek Junior School to seek professional planning advice and to consider re-engaging the City through the appropriate channels,” he said.
The City would consider a new land use application, says Mayco member Eddie Andrews.
This article was originally published on GroundUp.
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