Latest news:

Carla’s: Best prawns south of the Zambezi

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There are restaurants that are worth a special journey to experience the cuisine they offer. This is in fact the basis of the Michelin start rating system. Carla’s in Muizenberg is one such restaurant.

Tucked away on vibey York Road, Carla’s has been around for about 20 years, opening its doors when Muizenberg was a seaside slum, the now thronging beach front dominated by the eerily derelict Empire cinema.… Read more

Five deaths as child diarrhoea cases surge

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  • 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

River Club opposition excluded from Obs ward committee

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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

It doesn’t have to be this way: The future is up to us

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This tale of doom and resilience by Alistair MacKay follows three queer friends who must navigate climate collapse as their world unravels. Cape Town’s elite has fled to The Citadel, a temperature-controlled dome on Signal Hill where the citizens live in virtual reality, blind to what’s around them.… Read more

Gig guide: March on 2022

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It seems surreal to be putting together a list of cool arts and culture events while Europe is entering a war, toggling between web pages with deets of what’s on stage and news sites showing Russian tanks invading the Ukraine. The worst case scenario, of course, is someone unleashes the nukes, then it’s ta ta world.… Read more

Staffing crisis at Home Affairs

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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

The Sweetest Thing: irresistible tarts

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he cynics among us believed it was never going to happen. After cable thieves brought the Metrorail southern line to a stop at Retreat in October last year, the coastal section to Fish Hoek would simply rust away over time and become another relic of a looted state.… Read more

Heritage rights at stake

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Court set to rule on interdict to halt River Club development

  • The development, which would include a regional headquarters for corporate giant Amazon, is opposed by the Observatory Civic Association and by the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council.
  • The applicants say they were left out of consultations and only the First Nations Collective, a group supporting the development, was consulted.
… Read more