By Gavin, on February 21st, 2017  “The currently prevailing dominant culture within the ranks of officialdom at the municipality of Cape Town, where senior planning and other officials have been instructed by the mayor to simply say ‘yes’ to development applications, is deeply undermining the exercise of professional responsibility, development control and local government growth-management of the built environment. This culture is patently tending to result in professional officials becoming compromised ethically and not being able to do their jobs effectively,” Todeschini wrote.
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By Gavin, on December 11th, 2016  For generations to come, up to 70 percent of the vegetable supply of Capetonians will have to be imported from outside the province.
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By Gavin, on December 5th, 2016  Every day, the famous Camps Bay region in Cape Town, South Africa, is discharging million of litres of untreated waste-water into our marine reserve. This is creating some serious and growing problems, for the vulnerable sea-life, for us water-users and soon for beach-goers too.
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By Gavin, on November 23rd, 2016  Never before has the need for civil society vigilance been greater than in this interesting times we live in. We have a constitutional democracy. But what does it mean when the democratic space in local government is fast shrinking and it appears that there has been “state capture” at our local government level.
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By Gavin, on November 21st, 2016  Destroying our natural environment and replacing it with concrete jungles, in my estimation at least, can in no way be called progressive development. The cosy relationship between our local government structures and the Western Cape Developers Forum, where red carpet treatment ensures the big developers easy passage to encroach on the urban edge, where zoning rules are amended to allow more units for profit and where the seemingly insatiable mammonic greed is fed.
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By WebWolly, on June 21st, 2016 It has been over a year since the City of Cape Town asked for comments from the public as part of the public participation process during its permit application to be allowed to continue discharging untreated effluent into our coastal waters and MPA’s. We have had no feedback or answers to our queries and objections, nor have we been advised as to whether or not the permit was granted and if so under what conditions.
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By WebWolly, on June 7th, 2016  Civic associations accuse the City of using bullying tactics and deciding the end result before the public participation process has started, but the City says the the proposal was an ‘appropriate development mix’…
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By WebWolly, on May 31st, 2016  Civic organisations from across the city are becoming increasingly concerned at the cosy relationship between the City of Cape Town and private developers, saying inappropriate developments were being bulldozed through with objections routinely ignored.
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By WebWolly, on May 2nd, 2016  The GCTCA sincerely hopes that sanity will prevail and that political and housing development greed will not be the victor at the extreme loss of food security and very scarce water supplies, as well as jobs.
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By WebWolly, on April 17th, 2016  The Philippi farming community gives the Cape 200 000 tonnes of vegetables and flowers every year. Only 20 kilometres from the centre of town, Philippi has been Cape Town’s bread basket for nearly 2000 years. Carte Blanche asks: why are the city’s own town planners threatening its survival during one of the most devastating droughts this country has ever seen?
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By WebWolly, on April 7th, 2016  They called for an “urgent investigation” into the “irrational and unconstitutional” actions of Environmental, Planning and Development MEC Anton Bredell and mayor Patricia de Lille threatening the PHA, which is a critical food security resource.
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By Gavin, on April 6th, 2016  “Good agricultural land on the urban edge and elsewhere is rapidly being consumed by urban development, and valuable biodiversity resources and areas of scenic and amenity value are being threatened.”
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By WebWolly, on December 7th, 2015 Aerial photographs of the oceans around the Southern tip of the continent went viral earlier this year causing outrage. The images showed that the City of Cape Town was pumping 55 million litres of untreated sewage into Table Bay every day. New scientific analysis now reveals that 87 000 carcinogenic, hormone disrupting chemicals could be seeping from the sewage mass into the oceans. Yet, the city is without any immediate solutions. Carte Blanche investigates the far-reaching impact of the filth.
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By Gavin, on November 22nd, 2015  Date: Sunday 29th November 2015 Time: Convene at 11 a.m – March starts at noon and proceeds to Parliament at 1 p.m. Starting Venue: Keizersgracht near CPUT Cape Town Campus
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By Gavin, on September 24th, 2015  We were also treated to a glossy presentation showing splashing whales and a boardwalk (a good idea), but no images of the 40-odd “exclusive” houses and shops to be squashed on to this precious site. He proved that our council has done zero consultation with the people who actually use Maiden’s Cove, the historically disadvantaged communities of the Cape Flats.
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By WebWolly, on August 17th, 2015  It would appear that the voice of the ratepayer is being silenced by the new municipal bylaw on planning (MBL). Regulation will allow developments to be approved without consultation with the ratepayers and community. A closer study of the MBL reveal quite wide ranging powers given to the City to exclude public participation, e.g the City can decide whom it feels would be appropriate to consult. This means it could bypass the local ratepayer and civic organisations thus denying organised community structures a voice.
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