Local government

City responds to GroundUp on Valhalla Park protests

The City's Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services writes that the electrification project at Agstelaan in Valhalla Park has been halted for periods of time due to excessive and highly dangerous gang violence in the area.

Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg

News | 27 August 2014

Philippi eviction: Sheriff contradicts City’s JP Smith

The City of Cape Town's version of the evictions in Philippi East on 11 August has been contradicted by police and the SA Board of Sheriffs. The Board denies that any of its officials were involved in dozens of shack demolitions off Symphony Way in Philippi. The evictions were carried out by the City's Law Enforcement, police say.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 12 August 2014

Tightrope walker says he was pushed off wire by city official

A Zimbabwean tightrope walker and musician claims that a City of Cape Town law enforcement officer pushed him off his tightrope in April, and that Camps Bay police have failed to respond.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 1 August 2014

Magistrate says charges stand against sanitation activists

The trial of 21 Social Justice Coalition (SJC) members continued in the Cape Town Magistrates' Court today. The group are charged with unlawfully attending and convening a protest in September last year.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 24 July 2014

City in the hot seat over toilet audit

Over a quarter of the flush toilets inspected during the Social Justice Coalition’s (SJC) social audit did not work.

Barbara Maregele

News | 21 July 2014

De Lille lashes out at HRC and SJC over sanitation report

Today, Mayor Patricia De Lille responded in a special edition of Cape Town This Week to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) report on sanitation provision in Khayelitsha that was published yesterday.

Michelle Korte

News | 17 July 2014

Open letter to the Social Justice Coalition

Counsellor Ernest Sonnenberg has written an open letter to Phumeza Mlungwana, General Secretary of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC). This follows the report published by GroundUp on the SJC's toilet mapping initiative.

Ernest Sonnenberg

Opinion | 10 July 2014

Informal vendors unhappy with City’s proposed trading plans

A 38-year-old fruit vendor in the city centre says it is not clear if he will be benefiting from the City of Cape Town’s proposed plan to allocate new trading bays.

Barbara Maregele

News | 2 July 2014

Anger as municipality forces small farmers to pay to use common land

Already hit by drought, small farmers in the Upington area will now have to pay fees to graze their animals on common land.

Selby Nomnganga

News | 29 May 2014

Hangberg: mixed reaction to new housing development

For the first time since a violent clash between residents and law enforcement in 2010, development of new housing is proceeding in Hangberg, Hout Bay. 142 new rental units are being built.

Barbara Maregele

News | 8 May 2014

Election special: ANC says it will win back the people’s “trust”

In the second of three interviews in the run-up to the May elections, Vuyiso Tyhalisisu, ANC secretary in the Cape Town metro, answers GroundUp's questions.

Pharie Sefali

News | 10 April 2014

//Khara Hais local municipality continues to ignore Auditor General

For two successive years //Khara Hais local municipality in Upington has had qualified audit reports. Now, at its most recent council meeting, the municipality approved irregular and unauthorized expenditure of R4 million incurred since November 2013.

Selby Nomnganga

News | 20 March 2014

Station Commander’s job comes under fire at the Khayelitsha Commission

Advocate Peter Hathorn has said his clients will recommend that Colonel Michael Reitz be removed from his post as the Lingelethu West Station Commander in Khayelitsha.

Adam Armstrong

News | 17 February 2014

Khayelitsha gangs can get worse warns researcher

Dr Kelly Gillespie, a social anthropology researcher based at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), warned the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry into policing that the township’s gangs can change into something worse.

Adam Armstrong

News | 12 February 2014

Less than 2km of Upington street paved after a year

An expanded public works project in Upington to pave three streets of 1.8km is incomplete a year later and no account can be given of the project by the Department of Public Works, the local municipality, or the responsible councillor.

Selby Nomnganga

News | 5 February 2014

Can Khayelitsha be policed?

The Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry has entered its third week. Its aim is to investigate the allegations that SAPS have been inefficient in their policing of Khayelitsha and that there has been a breakdown in police-community relations.

Adam Armstrong

Opinion | 3 February 2014