News

A pending Constitutional Court judgment on Tafelberg may have far-reaching consequences for City planning

• In 2015, the Western Cape Government announced it would sell the Tafelberg School site in Sea Point for R135-million.

• Housing activists then launched a legal battle to stop the sale and compel the province to consider affordable housing before selling off state-owned land to private parties.

But plan lacks firm targets, commitments, and timelines

• A Service Level Plan to give the City of Cape Town oversight of commuter rail in the metro has been years in the making.
• In December, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis celebrated Prasa finally signing the plan.

Scientists aboard state-of-the-art research and supply vessel have been tracking ocean health

• South Africa’s icebreaker ship, the SA Agulhas II, has returned to Cape Town after taking supplies and a relief crew to South Africa’s Antarctic base.
• The ship had first sailed to East London where public were invited aboard during an open day before the two-day voyage home, which media and members of Parliament were invited to join.

The city has better preventative measures but is far less resourced than Los Angeles

A devastating fire, such as the one that has raged in Los Angeles over the past two weeks, could occur in Cape Town, say experts.

In Los Angeles, a hot summer and autumn combined with an unusually dry winter, led to the vegetation in the hills around the city being highly combustible.… Read more

Years after the City of Cape Town was ordered to clean it up, residents say the smell is nauseating

The stench of sewage from the Milnerton Lagoon in Cape Town is nothing new, but it has been nauseating over the past weeks, say residents.… Read more

The Service Level Plan gives the City oversight over annual performance plans, station revitalisation, and the introduction of more train sets

The City of Cape Town and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) have signed a Service Level Plan (SLP) following court action, threats of an intergovernmental dispute, and more than a year of negotiations.… Read more

The City of Cape Town has told Clayton Smith to leave De Waal Park where he has lived for 13 years.

Clayton Smith has called De Waal Park in Cape Town home for more than a decade. He lives in a small storeroom with his two dogs, Peaches and Aisha.… Read more

As global temperature records continue to be broken, cities need to move fast to prevent inhabitants dying from heat stress. Planting trees seems the simplest solution.

As global heating takes hold, Cape Town appears to be losing trees in the urban environment faster than they are being replaced, and the City’s Urban Forest Policy target falls far short of international recommendations. … Read more

“We’re not retrenching teachers. We’re reducing posts,” says WCED head

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) came under fire in Parliament on Tuesday over its plan to reduce teaching posts.

In August, the WCED said the number of teacher posts would be reduced by 2,407 for the 2025 school year due to a R3.8-billion budget shortfall over the next three years.… Read more