GeoJournal 60: 259–271, 2004. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 259 Second homes and local development: Issues arising from Cape Town’s De Waterkant Gustav Visser Department of Geography, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa (E-mail: visserge.sci@mail.uovs.ac.za) Key words: De Waterkant, local development, second homes, South Africa Abstract The paper aims to make a contribution towards addressing the current paucity of academic reflection on second home devel- opment in South Africa. The paper focuses on the intersection between tourism, second homes and local development, as embodied in the empirical realities of a Cape Town neighbourhood – De Waterkant. It is argued that this particular case study presents an example of the types of local development impacts that second home expansion holds for host communities. These impacts include employment generation, urban conservation, a range of forward and backward economic linkages, as well as a flexible tourist accommodation supply. Moreover, the case study elucidates an interesting example of second homes as sites of simultaneous tourism space production and consumption at work. Introduction Since the early 1970s second home development has been a research area of major interest to those investigating the in- tersection between tourism and migration (Coppock, 1977; Williams and Hall, 2000, 2003). Although a number of studies into the dynamic impacts of second homes on host communities have frequently appeared in the academic press over the past three decades, the research field has tended to be more localised in its concerns and less visible in interna- tional tourism debates (Williams and Hall, 2000). Recently, however, it has been argued that as a result of the increasing mobility of ever-larger sections of the industrialised world, in addition to elevated levels of regional and international leisure migration associated with second homes, the topic of second home development needs to receive a fresh examin- ation as to its advantages for communities, the factors that contribute to second home location and the role that second homes play in contemporary society (Hall et al., 2003). Whereas the analysis of these complex and varied rela- tionships has been the focus of a burgeoning international academic literature (cf. Hoggart and Buller, 1995; Williams et al., 1997), these concerns have not been explored within the South African context. Although large numbers of towns and villages along the South African coastline, and increas- ingly in its interior, have grown significantly as a result of second home development, the South African Geographical, Tourism, as well as Town and Regional Planning research discourses, remain mute concerning this phenomenon (Vis- ser, 2003a, b). In part, this silence can be attributed to the research context in which second homes are located, one in which such investigation fits uneasily into South Africa’s day-to-day socio-economic realities. Moreover, re- search areas focused on tourism have only very recently emerged as a serious field of investigation in this country (Rogerson, 2003). Nevertheless, whatever the reasons for this oversight in focusing on second homes, the fact remains that no systematic academic reflection on this phenomenon has been forthcoming in the South African context. Crucially, recognition of the impact that second homes, and the various cohorts of people involved in this com- plex system of production and consumption-led migration, hold for host communities, has recently started to draw at- tention at the highest levels of South African governance. The emergence of such investigation is partly explained in the context of the recent Zimbabwean land-grab fiasco, and South Africa’s languishing land-reform system; but it can mainly be attributed to mounting discontent among aspir- ant home-owners, in reaction to the fact that housing in many parts of the Western Cape property market is becoming unaffordable owing to second home, non-resident investor activity in the region. In the light thereof, many questions are currently being asked about who owns what type of property, where, and for what purposes. Indeed, the Deputy Presid- ent, Jacob Zuma, was recently compelled to make a public statement that the Land Affairs Department “is conducting research into the matter of foreign ownership of land ... with comparative study of countries facing similar challenges” (Pressly, 2002, p. 1, in Visser, 2003c, p. 182). Sadly, there is nothing in the form of South African-based academic or con- sultancy research that might guide public opinion regarding the benefits and challenges that second home development holds for this society.