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Court to rule on fate of families occupying Cape Town buildings

GroundUpMore than 150 people face eviction from three abandoned buildings in Hope Street By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Caroline Abrahams just turned 56 but says she has nothing to celebrate. She is one of over 150 people whose lives are in limbo as they face being evicted from three abandoned buildings in Cape Town’s Hope Street. The … Read more [...] Read more...

New battle looms over future of Tokai and Cecilia pine plantations

GroundUpSANParks ordered by forestry department to clear all remaining pines By John Yeld/GroundUp A new push to promote ecological restoration in the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) and reduce fire risk could see the removal of all remaining pine trees and other invasives from former plantation areas at Tokai and Cecilia. This is if the … Read more [...] Read more...

Books on our bedside table this August

ContributorHome Affairs by Onyeka Nwelue Lethabo Khumalo, a weary Home Affairs official in Pietermaritzburg, is a mother of three who has long carried life alone until a chance encounter draws her into a web of corruption that promises relief from the quiet depression of unpaid bills and leaking roofs. What follows is a story of moral compromise … Read more [...] Read more...

Buckland takes on the techbros

Steve KretzmannYou can’t escape the bastards. They’ve inserted their insidious fingers into so many aspects of life that it is almost impossible to earn a living without being smeared by their grimy greed. You can run an open-source Linux operating system on your computer, have no social media accounts, and use one of the many alternative … Read more [...] Read more...

Straathond bares its teeth at Killarney

Bobby NitroAppearances can be deceptive, especially when it comes to the world of drag racing. Most people expect fire-breathing V8s, purpose-built race cars, so when a humble Nissan Champ bakkie pulls up to the start line, most would not expect it to be a serious contender. After all, when we think bakkie we think about tradesmen, … Read more [...] Read more...

Your August gig guide

Rosa-Karoo LoeweThere’s no better time to cosy up in a theatre, feel some feels, sing along, or be moved by the spirit. A hearty mix of shows return to the stage, the opening of a new theatre in Kloof Street (go try their spirits!) this winter. Theatre If you missed it, you have been given another … Read more [...] Read more...

Metrorail doesn’t move for wheelchair users

GroundUpThe “people’s train” doesn’t include people with disabilities By Mary-Anne Gontsana In 2016, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) promised to make all its stations accessible to wheelchair users. Ten years later, this is an empty promise, as we found when we accompanied wheelchair user Khanyo Mantshi on a journey in Cape Town. Mantshi, … Read more [...] Read more...

Giant data centres get first green light from Cape Town tribunal

Steve KretzmannTwo massive water-hungry and energy-hungry data centres are proposed next to the airport An application that paves the way for two new data centres totalling more than 120,000 square metres in Cape Town’s airport industrial area has been approved by the Municipal Planning Tribunal. The land use, subdivision and consolidation application by King David Country … Read more [...] Read more...

Oude Molen: Province forges ahead despite heritage report rejection

Steve KretzmannTenants and objectors are concerned about how required heritage report was ignored in adjacent massive River Club development The provincial government plans to allow five-storey buildings and more than 1,300 housing units to be built within the Oude Molen Eco-Village alongside the Black River, but their required Heritage Impact Assessment has been turned down. The … Read more [...] Read more...

City plans to auction Mowbray Market site

GroundUpSmallholder farmers from rural towns as far afield as Calitzdorp, Suurbraak, and Genadendal rely on the monthly market By Liezl Human The Mowbray Market has been operating on the first Saturday of every month for the past four years, but the a lease on the property has expired and the City is now considering auctioning … Read more [...] Read more...

A spoon full of sugar

Sadé AllcockI’ve always had a sweet tooth, but have long believed that sweet wine is, well… a little bit shit. Oh, how wrong I’ve been. For the record, I do think the whole sweet wine scene, especially in South Africa, is all a bit confusing to most people. From what I can gather, there are two … Read more [...] Read more...

Mother City gets gassed

Jackie CruzeThe Gas Motorshow National Tour made a pitstop at Granger Bay recently Cape Town has become one of South Africa’s premier sources of automotive culture, so just recently the Gas Motorshow National Tour made a stop in the Mother City ahead of the national event. The promotional stop in Granger Bay on June 10 quickly … Read more [...] Read more...

“Phantsi, Afrophobia!” – Cape Town artists and activists reject hatred

Matthew HirschWorld Refugee Day events show “African solidarity” Calls of “Phantsi, Afrophobia, phantsi!” (Down with Afrophobia) echoed through Cape Town’s Central Methodist Mission Church on Saturday 20 June as musicians from different African countries performed in a free solidarity concert. The concert marked UN World Refugee Day and comes at a time of heightened tension in … Read more [...] Read more...

Hundreds of Zimbabweans camp outside consulate in Cape Town

GroundUpThey want the Zimbabwean government to help them get home safely Hundreds of Zimbabwean nationals are sleeping outside the Zimbabwean consulate in Cape Town pleading for the government to help them get back home. On Thursday 18 June, piles of large suitcases and bags wrapped in plastic were strewn on the pavements around the office. … Read more [...] Read more...

July guide to Mother City gigs

Rosa-Karoo LoeweOur midwinter solstice has passed, that’s good reason to celebrate Theatre A Flea in Her Ear at Magnet Theatre from 24 to 27 June. The iconic French farce written by Georges Feydeau and here directed by Qondiswa James, features the seventh cohort of trainees in their second year of training at Magnet. Watch the escalating … Read more [...] Read more...

City tests out a shelter for homeless people who are drunk

GroundUpThe Sober Space project caters for the intoxicated in need of a bed By Matthew Hirsch Bonelwa Xaka lived on the streets of Cape Town for more than five years. Now she is a peer support specialist in a “Sober Space” pilot project in Cape Town, set up to offer a place to homeless people … Read more [...] Read more...

No to March and March, says Dunoon leadership

ContributorCommunity leaders say immigration laws should be enforced by the state, not vigilantes By Peter Luhanga Community leaders in Dunoon have moved to shut down plans by anti-immigrant groups to march through the township, warning that the campaign against foreign nationals risks inflaming tensions and destabilising a fragile local economy. The intervention by local leaders … Read more [...] Read more...

Social housing to be built at Salt River Market by August 2028

GroundUpLand formerly owned by City of Cape Town has been handed to Communicare By Matthew Hirsch More than a decade since the City first earmarked the Salt River Market for social housing, it has finally been handed over to the developer, Communicare. Communicare will contribute R40-million of its own funds and expects to receive a … Read more [...] Read more...

Government waking up to using empty military land for housing

GroundUpAn estimated 67,000 homes could be built at Ysterplaat, Wingfield and Youngsfield By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp For decades, housing activists have been calling for under-used military land in Cape Town to be released for housing. This includes about 668 hectares of well-located land at the Wingfield and Ysterplaat airbases, adjacent to Century City, and at Youngsfield, … Read more [...] Read more...

Dozens evicted from informal settlement in Green Point

GroundUpDA ward councillor says the eviction follows a long process of engagement with the group By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Chaos erupted near the Cape Town stadium, along Granger Bay Boulevard in Green Point on Wednesday, when a group of about 40 people living in makeshift shelters were forcibly removed. By lunchtime, a bucket loader was breaking … Read more [...] Read more...

Sea Point’s Tafelberg plans sent back to the drawing board

GroundUpHeritage committee and local residents’ association raise alarm over lack of detail in the current development proposal By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp The future of the long-contested Tafelberg site in Sea Point was top of the agenda at a Heritage Western Cape meeting earlier this month. Last year, it was reported that the Western Cape government has … Read more [...] Read more...

Adderley Street flower sellers oppose planned rules and tariffs

GroundUpCity of Cape Town wants to upgrade the market and alter longstanding arrangements By Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp Flower sellers at the iconic Trafalgar Place in Adderley Street are concerned that a new plan by the City of Cape Town will change how their market operates. People have been selling flowers at the market for more than … Read more [...] Read more...

Fishers fight offshore oil and gas drilling

GroundUpTotalEnergies taken to court over plans to drill wells off the west coast By Liezl Human/GroundUp Small-scale fishers and environmental organisations were in the Cape High Court on 23 March in a bid to halt oil and gas exploration by TotalEnergies along the West Coast. The case was brought by the Aukotowa small-scale fishing cooperative … Read more [...] Read more...

The beauty of small things

Steve KretzmannIn a world scarred by ecocide, Lizzie Gaisford’s finely crafted debut solo album calls us to attend to what remains There’s got to be a word for that specific kind of grief, sings Lizzie Gaisford on the fourth track of her debut solo album Love the Land, which is a poem, almost a requiem, for … Read more [...] Read more...

Volvo power: it’s electrifying

Jackie CruzeThe marque’s offerings are making us rethink our penchant for petrol The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is real, and even more so now we’re facing a looming oil crisis. Swedish car maker Volvo is ostensibly near the forefront of the electric charge, with a broad range of EVs and an upcoming launch on the … Read more [...] Read more...

Payday to payday gig guide – April vibes

Rosa-Karoo LoeweWe get all those public holidays this April, why not use some of them? Theatre Death and comedy, a surprisingly fun pair. Louw Venter and Rob van Vuuren (directing) open their sequel to The Best Man’s Speech, which ran at the Kalk Bay Theatre for five years before becoming the feature film Konfetti. Now, Dead … Read more [...] Read more...

Housing for locals: City can do more

Steve KretzmannWith a backlog of 600,000 housing units and the state only providing 2,500 a year, the City has to incentivise the private sector to step in Although Cape Town is the leading municipality in the provision of state-funded housing, it has a housing crisis. According to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis the city has a shortfall of … Read more [...] Read more...

Iconic Good Hope Centre auctioned by City amidst civic opposition

Steve KretzmannMore than 50 municipal land parcels across the city are being sold to the highest bidder while locals suffer a housing availability crisis The City’s plan to auction the iconic turtle-shaped Good Hope Centre along with other parcels of municipal land across the city on 26 February was met with protests, legal challenges, and a … Read more [...] Read more...

City land auction at odds with affordable housing commitments

Steve KretzmannThe City’s auctioning of 53 parcels of land without any requirements for the provision of social or affordable housing is not aligned to the City’s affordable housing commitments, states the Development Action Group. In a statement released on 25 Feb, the Development Action Group (DAG) noted the High Court’s dismissal of applications seeking to postpone … Read more [...] Read more...

District Six families vow to fight eviction

GroundUp“Who would have thought back then that it would have turned out like this today” says 69-year-old resident By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Six District Six families living in historic semi-detached Victorian cottages on Searle Street, who withstood apartheid forced removals but now face eviction, say they will fight on despite a magistrates’ court judgment in December … Read more [...] Read more...