Local government

Long wait for Motsepe money

Khayelitsha residents who applied for funds from the Khayelitsha Motsepe Foundation in 2013 might have to wait months for the money, says the head of the Motsepe Foundation in the Western Cape, Steve Mashalane.

Nombulelo Damba

Feature | 8 April 2015

We’re being targeted, say homeless

Homeless people in Observatory, Woodstock and Bellville have complained about a wave of law enforcement operations against them in the last two months.

Ian Broughton

Feature | 8 April 2015

“Now I have lunch in a clean canteen”

The contract workers who clean portable toilets all day at the Borcherd’s Quarry Depot now have a canteen and a place to change.

Zintle Swana

News | 10 March 2015

Good and bad approaches to upgrading informal settlements

In February the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) dismantled a family’s shack in Mfuleni. This acrimonious incident raises important questions about how informal settlements are to be upgraded.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 9 March 2015

Shack scam: Langa activist fears for her life

Langa residents are asking why a man accused of fraudulent plot sales to dozens of poor people has still not been arrested, while the activist who exposed him fears for her life.

Daneel Knoetze

Feature | 4 March 2015

City does not care if it is wrong as long as no one else knows it

When the Madlingozi family in Mfuleni extended their shack without authorisation, the City of Cape Town removed the extensions, amidst a dispute over the facts. Jared Sacks argues that the City presented its position without checking the facts.

Jared Sacks

Opinion | 2 March 2015

Residents welcome Siqalo clean-up

Siqalo residents have welcomed the City of Cape Town’s quick action to remove rubbish dumps that have spiraled out of control in recent weeks.

Daneel Knoetze

Brief | 25 February 2015

Gugulethu standoff underscores struggle for urban land

The City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement evicted land occupiers near Gugulethu on Saturday morning – demolishing six shacks before violent protests erupted. By Monday calm had returned to the community, but the frustrations of shack dwellers from KwaKiki and Sweethome Farm informal settlements continue unrelieved. As police remain on site, residents have vowed that their struggle for land will continue.

Daneel Knoetze

Feature | 16 February 2015

Flamingo Crescent upgrade shows what can be done

The first few months of Margaret Papier’s stay in Flamingo Crescent, a shanty town in Lansdowne, were so rough that she considered moving back to her former home underneath Lansdowne Bridge. Now, after three years of upgrading, she and her partner have a modest yet comfortable and electrified home, with access to clean drinking water and a flush toilet outside their front door.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 11 February 2015

Hope of peace for Manenberg residents

Manenberg residents believe night marches by community members and increased police visibility helped to restore peace to the area this week.

Barbara Maregele

News | 28 January 2015

City to improve toilet cleaning facility

This is a response by Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, to GroundUp's article "Is this the Dirtiest Job in Cape Town?" published on 21 January.

Ernest Sonnenberg

Opinion | 23 January 2015

Sports complex trashed after security withdrawn

Mfuleni’s sports complex was vandalised and looted over the festive season. A community leader, who is lobbying for the trashed buildings to be renovated, has blamed the City of Cape Town for cancelling a contract with a security company to protect the grounds.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 22 January 2015

City’s janitorial programme to be scrapped in some areas

The City of Cape Town will not be renewing the contracts of janitors employed to clean flush toilets in some informal settlements in the city.

Barbara Maragele

News | 19 January 2015

SJC members defend civic centre protest

Protests are a way to be heard and not just an event, Social Justice Coalition general secretary Phumeza Mlungwana told the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Mary-Anne Gontsana and Lea Bork

News | 7 October 2014

Activists to Sonnenberg: City must engage constructively on sanitation

Yesterday the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) published a social audit of the state of municipal public toilets in Khayelitsha. Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg responded. This is a reply by the SJC's Axolile Notywala and Dustin Kramer to Councillor Sonnenberg.

Axolile Notywala and Dustin Kramer

Opinion | 2 October 2014

City goes to court to stop Ses’Khona protests

Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement supporters came in their numbers to protest outside the Western Cape High Court about an interdict the City of Cape Town seeks to stop them protesting.

Johnnie Isaac

Brief | 9 September 2014