News

Several social housing projects in Cape Town will go to tender this year

Matthew Hirsch and Daniel Steyn/GroundUp

MEC for Western Cape Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers announced this week that he intends to finalise the tenders for three major inner-city housing projects built on state-owned land in Cape Town.… Read more

The land value of the site ranks “among the highest in the southern hemisphere”.

• The City of Cape Town has approved the sale of more than four hectares of prime land traversing Green Point and Sea Point.
• The site currently includes the Sea Point library and civic centre, which are to be retained.

A return to the land is in sight for scores of families forcibly removed during apartheid

Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp

A sod-turning ceremony for the construction of 86 homes in Protea Village, Bishopscourt, was attended by land claimants, community members and government officials on Tuesday 11 March.… Read more

About 30 people have been living at 104 Darling Street for more than two decades

Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp

Unathi Mangali’s daughter was a baby when they moved into 104 Darling Street in the Cape Town city centre twenty years ago. Today her daughter is 22 years old.… Read more

Life-sized animal puppet project to raise awareness about dangers of accelerating climate change

Ashraf Hendricks/Groundup

Hundreds of life-sized animal puppets will be performing in cities from Central Africa to the northern tip of Norway to highlight the loss of biodiversity caused by rapid, human-induced climate change.… Read more

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