News

A fire ripped through Singabalapha on Wednesday

By Mary-Anne Gontsana

One man died and at least three structures were gutted in a fire that ripped through Singabalapha informal settlement in Observatory in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to the City of Cape Town’s fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse, firefighters got the call before 3am on Wednesday.… Read more

Lack of national government social housing grants hobble the City’s plans for 28,400 affordable homes

• The City of Cape Town has told the Western Cape High Court it plans about 28,400 affordable homes.
• But none of the affordable housing projects the City has approved since 2017 for the CBD, Woodstock, Salt River, Observatory or Sea Point has been finished.

Some short-term letting properties could pay three times as much when subject to commercial rates

A new by-law seeks to regulate short-term rentals in Cape Town by enforcing registration and imposing commercial rates on properties let out on a short-term basis for 183 days or more per year.… Read more

An appeal against rezoning has temporarily halted plans

By Alice Scott/GroundUp

Bishop Lavis community leader Michael Hoffmeester lives less than three kilometres from King Air Industria where a hyperscale data centre has been proposed for Cape Town.

He said he has been struggling to answer questions from the community about the data centre.… Read more

The High Court has ordered Singabalapha residents to leave by 30 November

By Mary-Anne Gontsana/GroundUp

The deadline for people living along the Main Road in Observatory to vacate the site is looming, but many of them say they still don’t know where they will go.… Read more

Latest Water Outlook report paints a worrying picture for coming years

• The City of Cape Town’s New Water Programme is only expected to be fully operational by 2036, yet demand is expected to exceed current dam water allocation in two years.

Violent protests related to the NSFAS funding cap, among other demands, have rocked Cape Peninsula University of Technology campuses over the past month

Some of the demands made by protesting Cape Peninsula University of Technology students have been met by the university management.… Read more

Calls for accommodation cap to be scrapped or redesigned

By Liezl Human

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) accommodation funding cap has not managed to curb high student housing prices. Instead, it has been used as a “price signal” for service providers to push up rents, Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela told Parliament’s portfolio committee for higher education on 28 August.… Read more

While most people prefer to die at home, a minority desperately need specialist care that can only be provided in an institution

By Marecia Damons

St Luke’s is a much respected institution that has been looking after people with life-threatening illnesses in Cape Town since 1980.… Read more

But amaBhungane disputes “straw-man” findings

• PRASA says an independent investigation found no evidence it contracted with or paid alleged gang boss Ralph Stanfield or his wife, Nicole Johnson, or their linked companies.
• But amaBhungane says the investigation failed to address the allegations in its reporting and lacked access to key evidence, including PRASA’s former security chief’s devices.