Local government
Sanitation: SJC’s analysis is faulty
The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) has asked the Mayor for a plan to deal with sanitation in informal settlements. We have a plan – one that has already been and continues to be implemented as part of this administration’s commitment to making this a city that delivers services to all our residents. Perhaps that is why so many people flock here from other parts of the country every year. After all, no one packs up their family and leaves their hometown for a worse life!
Ian Neilson
Opinion | 8 April 2015
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