News

“I just cried underneath the water,” says homeless woman after first hot shower in ages

South Africa’s first “wash bus” for the homeless is set to launch on Friday. Named Nina Manzi, the colourful bus has four hot water showers and four toilets divided for male and female use.… Read more

• High Court to hear contempt of court arguments against River Club directors next week

• Developers have resumed construction despite High Court order to stop all work until a review of government’s authorisations is heard

• Development opposition leader Tauriq Jenkins’ leadership of the Goringhaicona challenged

The contempt of court case against company directors behind the contentious R4,5bn Amazon-tenanted River Club development, for resuming construction at the site despite a High Court interdict to stop work, was postponed yet again at the Western Cape High Court yesterday afternoon.… Read more

• Latest Green Drop report papers over the ecological devastation caused by wastewater treatment failure

• The widely hailed resuscitation of the Green Drop report reveals the extent of South Africa’s wastewater treatment failure, but data shows the situation is even more dire

The long awaited Green Drop report paints a bleak picture of sewage treatment failure across South Africa.… Read more

• Council last week resolved to invite public comment for social housing on two large city-owned land parcels
• The sites are part of 11 centrally located sites mooted for social housing in 2017
• Move welcomed by housing advocates, despite slow progress

It has taken more than five years for the City of Cape Town to release two large portions of centrally located land for social housing.… Read more

• Reported cases of diarrhoea in children under five in Cape Town rose by 146% during February
• At least five children as a result
• World Health Organisation cites lack of sanitation, and sewage among causes of child diarrhoea
• Sewage flows on streets in Cape Town’s poorest areas but city not investigating any link between sewage spills and child diarrhoea

With her 18-month-old daughter suffering from acute diarrhoea in mid-February, Novangele Nyikana left the one-room shack she shares with her partner and  children, and sought help at the Khayelitsha hospital in Cape Town.… Read more

The award-winning Observatory Civic Association, which has led the opposition to the River Club development, has been excluded from the ward committee in ward 57 following new rules being adopted by the city in January.

Ward committees were established by the Municipal Structures Act “in order to enhance participatory democracy in local government” and are supposed to be a direct link between communities and the municipality.… Read more

Almost two-thirds of civic service posts are vacant in the department

The once efficient Cape Town office now has block-long queues from 6am

There is a critical shortage of staff at home affairs, resulting in day-long queues becoming a permanent feature outside their offices, and it won’t be sorted out in the near future.… Read more

First the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was looted from within during former President Jacob Zuma’s state capture tenure, then during the Covid-19 lockdown when the trains ceased running, it was looted by cable thieves and vandals.

But in Cape Town at least, the Metrorail service is slowly getting back on track.… Read more