Latest news:

Clarke’s: More than just another hipster eatery

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Bree street was always the ugly duckling of the upper section of the CBD. Having more that its fair share of unattractive buildings leering over the street, unappetising businesses such as wheel and tyre workshops, medical facilities, and double carriageways putting cars above people meant it wasn’t the street to hang out on.… Read more

Inner city social housing – five years later

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  • 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

Of This Our Country: Love thy neighbour

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If you play a word association game with a South African, you can put good money down that four times out of five, the response to ‘Nigerian’ will be either ‘drug dealer’, ‘makwerekwere’, ‘criminal’, or some version of the above. Essentially, negative.… Read more

The new bubbly kid on the block

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Prosecco has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, Prosecco has seen such massive success in the past decade that Italy now exports over 600 million bottles of Prosecco per year as opposed to the approximately 150 million was exported in 2008.… Read more

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