Matthew Hirsch, Author at Mother City News

City of Cape Town to evict refugees living at two emergency housing sites

11 July 2025 by Matthew Hirsch

About 160 refugees at Wingfield were among those who protested outside the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2019

Refugees living in a large tent on government land at Wingfield in Maitland have vowed to fight any attempt to evict them.… Read more

Hundreds mark Nakba Day at Castle of Good Hope

21 May 202519 May 2025 by Matthew Hirsch

Pro-Palestine activists call for permanent ceasefire

The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town was a sea of red, white, green and black on Sunday as hundreds of people gathered to commemorate the 77th anniversary of Nakba Day. The rally was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).… Read more

Green Point land sale discussed

9 May 2025 by Matthew Hirsch

Not all in favour of affordable housing on site

The City’s intention to sell more than four hectares of prime land spanning Green Point and Sea Point was discussed at a public online meeting attended by about 100 people on Wednesday evening (7 May).… Read more

Recent Stories

Pharmaceuticals accumulating in Zandvlei estuary

Steve KretzmannScientists show pollution of the estuary is not sufficiently diluted, but persists in the environment Sewage pollution is believed to be causing the persistent presence of drugs such as paracetamol and antibiotics in the ecologically important Zandvlei Estuary at Muizenberg, Cape Town.… Read more [...] Read more...

Pro-poor budget: Struggle to get municipal subsidies

Steve KretzmannSubsidies on water, sanitation, and refuse charges for indigent households and homes caring for vulnerable people have not necessarily been automatically applied since 1 July Homes catering for the disabled are supposed to benefit from rates rebates and service charge subsidies under the City’s new 2025/26 budget.… Read more [...] Read more...

Moffie: a near perfect reminder of indomitability

Steve KretzmannFollowing an acclaimed London run, this South African story needs to be seen at the Baxter There were sergeants in the apartheid army who could bark out 30 or more words in an unbroken stream to create an extended insult involving bodily functions, body parts, bodily fluids, animals, familial relationships, and sex.… Read more [...] Read more...

Pack light, move fast

Jackie CruzeTo get straight to the nuts and bolts of it, as it were, the Cape car community lives to haal uit en wys, as it is said. What that means is bringing your motor to the track and pitting your power against others, and no one is to be underestimated.… Read more [...] Read more...

Justice delayed: police torture trial postponed for seven months

ContributorThe hearing was originally set down for July 2024 but will now only be heard in April 2026 By Mary-Anne Gontsana/GroundUp The trial in the Mowbray torture case involving three police officers will only be heard in April next year. The case has been postponed eight times between 25 July 2024 and 19 September 2025 “at the behest of the defence”, according to the state.… Read more [...] Read more...

Silver lining in the Table Mountain fire

ContributorAliens are easier to remove, but the window is small By Liezl Human/GroundUp “Alien plants are relentless, but we are relentless as well,” says Raymond Chinembiri, team leader at the Sugarbird Project, an organisation dedicated to removing invasive plants in the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).… Read more [...] Read more...

October gig guide – and the last week of September

Steve KretzmannThere’s like, some really good stuff happening this month. Theatre Last few days of Moffie at the Baxter Theatre. André Carl van der Merwe’s bruising coming-of-age novel, adapted by Philip Rademeyer and directed by Greg Karvellas. Set in 1979, a young, gay conscript (played by David Viviers) is sent to fight in the Border War.… Read more [...] Read more...

National film foundation falters as leadership churns

Steve KretzmannThe National Film and Video Foundation has had six CEOs in two-and-a-half years At a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee meeting last week questions were raised about the procedures involved in appointing the current NFVF board and acting CEOs. Department of Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie was accused by MPs of destabilising the NFVF for political ends.… Read more [...] Read more...

SANParks puts “boots on the ground” to combat crime on Table Mountain

ContributorMPs are not convinced enough is being done SANParks CEO Hapiloe Sello says resources are being allocated to fight crime on Table Mountain, but she acknowledged that it may not be enough. Sello was briefing Parliament’s portfolio committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries on Tuesday.… Read more [...] Read more...

City pauses decision to cut Dial-a-Ride services

ContributorSettlement reached between the municipality and the Western Cape Network on Disability By Tania Broughton and Mary-Anne Gontsana The City of Cape Town has paused its plans to significantly cut back on its Dial-a-Ride service for disabled people. The municipality reached a settlement agreement with the Western Cape Network on Disability on Friday, which was made an order of court by Acting Judge Wallis Roux.… Read more [...] Read more...

Disability activists disrupt City of Cape Town transport meeting over Dial-a-Ride cuts

GroundUpWestern Cape Network on Disability is challenging the cuts in court On Thursday morning, disability activists disrupted an Urban Mobility Portfolio Committee meeting at the Civic Centre over planned cuts to the City of Cape Town’s Dial-a-Ride service. Among them were users of the transport service and representatives from Disability Revolution, QuadPara Association of South Africa, and #UniteBehind.… Read more [...] Read more...

Judgment reserved in Darling Street eviction case

GroundUpDepartment of Public Works and Ndifuna Ukwazi square off in court By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Families facing eviction from 104 Darling Street – named Irene Grootboom House by some of its residents – are awaiting judgment from the Western Cape High Court.… Read more [...] Read more...

No train to Mitchells Plain: last steps to fully reopen Central Line

GroundUpWork has been disrupted and more than 1,250 people still live on the tracks Trains to Mitchells Plain on the Central Line have not been operational for six years, and several stations on the line remain closed. The delay in reviving train services has left Mitchells Plain commuters reliant on alternative means of transport.… Read more [...] Read more...

Mother City September gig guide

Rosa-Karoo LoeweTheatre Moffie, André Carl van der Merwe’s bruising coming-of-age novel, adapted by Philip Rademeyer and directed by Greg Karvellas is playing at the Baxter’s Flipside stage. It opened in London in 2024 to rave reviews; this is its SA premiere.… Read more [...] Read more...

Disability organisations protest against Dial-a-Ride cuts

GroundUpCity says it has to introduce cuts due to budget constraints By Mary-Anne Gontsana/GroundUp Disability organisations held a picket outside the Cape Town Civic Centre on Monday against the City of Cape Town’s planned cuts to the Dial-a-Ride service. The City announced earlier this month that from 8 September, the transport service will only be available for wheelchair users and people with severe walking impairments.… Read more [...] Read more...

Social housing approved at Fruit & Veg site

GroundUp237 Social housing units planned By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp The Cape Town City Council has approved the sale of the “Fruit and Veg” site in the city centre adjacent to Roeland Street for social housing. This comes eight years after municipal land between Kent and Bloemhof Streets on the border of District Six was first earmarked for affordable housing.… Read more [...] Read more...

Cape Town journalists protest against Israel for killing Palestinian reporters

GroundUpThere is nothing random about what Israel is doing,” says Palestinian journalist. Hundreds of people, including many journalists, marched on the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town on Sunday, protesting against Israel’s killing of journalists. This comes after Israel killed six media workers at the al-Shifa hospital precinct in Gaza City on 10 August.… Read more [...] Read more...

Property owners are misreading the law, argues Cape Town mayor

Steve KretzmannCommercial property owners are challenging the City’s budget in court, but the mayor argues they are selectively interpreting the law The legal challenge to the City of Cape Town’s latest budget brought by the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) is based on a selective reading of the Constitution and the Municipal Systems Act, argues Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.… Read more [...] Read more...

Explainer: Cape Town’s “pro-poor” budget and its legal challenge

Steve KretzmannLarge commercial property owners take aim at the City’s revenue plan Cape Town’s new Invested in Hope budget, which paves the way for spending almost R40-billion over three years, is under fire from commercial property owners, who have approached the court to declare parts of it unlawful.… Read more [...] Read more...

Artscape social housing development moves ahead

GroundUp1,476 social housing units planned at 16-storey development By Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp Six years after Founders Garden in Cape Town’s city centre was approved for social housing, the Western Cape Government has started the process of appointing a developer for the site.… Read more [...] Read more...

Local lawyer guilty of tyre slashing

GroundUpMagistrate did not rule on whether damage to property was racially motivated Attorney Gary Trappler was convicted of malicious damage to property by Magistrate Stephen Bengequla on Monday 7 July, having been found guilty of slashing the tyres of his Green Point neighbour Thandi Mgwaba’s car.… Read more [...] Read more...

City of Cape Town to evict refugees living at two emergency housing sites

Matthew HirschAbout 160 refugees at Wingfield were among those who protested outside the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2019 Refugees living in a large tent on government land at Wingfield in Maitland have vowed to fight any attempt to evict them.… Read more [...] Read more...

South Africa needs to back plan to end plastic production

GroundUpFaith leaders call on the environmental minister to push for reduction in production as he meets with other African ministers in Kenya African environment ministers meet in Kenya next week for the 20th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.… Read more [...] Read more...

To health, and rejuvenated taste buds

Steve KretzmannA sophisticated, silky-smooth L’Avenir red is recommended next to a crackling fire It might be assumed, particularly given his generation, that the brawling, bullfighting, big-game-fishing, larger-than-life soldier and Nobel Prize-winning writer Ernest Hemingway smoked. But in the biography Papa Hemingway, which focusses on the last decades of his life, A.E.… Read more [...] Read more...

Saffa’s Aussi run makes for comedy gold

Rosa-Karoo LoeweTwo award-winning shows are coming to Cape Town after cutting their teeth at the National Arts Festival Hot from its run at the National Arts Festival (NAF) in Makhanda, Durban-based performer and comedian Ben Voss will keep asking his audiences if at 50, would anyone still want to watch him? … Read more [...] Read more...

Dealing with the Dead: Mabanckou brings a Congo city to life

Steve KretzmannLiwa Ekimakingaï sits atop his grave, having been hurled there by a cyclone that sucked him out of the earth. At only 24-years-old, and wearing an orange crepe jacket, fluorescent-green shirt and purple flared trousers, Liwa realises he has died, and has been dreaming of his death.… Read more [...] Read more...

Affordable housing without state subsidies – City says it can work

GroundUpCity plans to sell land to private developers at a discount Daniel Steyn and Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp The City of Cape Town has promised to develop 12,000 affordable housing units targeted at households earning less than R32,000 a month. Many of these homes, the City believes, can be built without state subsidies.… Read more [...] Read more...

Fire-spitting K-swap proves doubters wrong

Jackie CruzeWhen Jackie Cruze first started chatting with Thaariq de Klerk about his wine-red Honda CRX, he didn’t realise he was about to get a front-row seat to one of the most underground trends in local car culture, the legendary K-swap.… Read more [...] Read more...

Explainer: affordable housing in Cape Town

GroundUpThe City of Cape Town has promised 12,000 affordable homes The need for affordable housing in Cape Town is enormous. There are more than 400,000 people on its housing waiting list and half of households in Cape Town earn less than R20,700 a month.… Read more [...] Read more...

Fidelity fire service is unlawful, says City of Cape Town

GroundUpBut Fidelity says it is “confident that no existing laws prohibit or restrict” its private service by Liezl Human The recently launched private firefighting service by Fidelity ADT is “unlawful”, and no agreement is in place for it to operate in Cape Town, says the City’s Fire and Rescue Service.… Read more [...] Read more...