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 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 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 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 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 29th, 2015 The City, which works for its corporate citizens, providing them with a “red tape to red carpet” special service that us mere mortals can only dream of, is implementing a massive growth strategy to increase square metres of office, conference, hotel and private living space in the central business district (CBD) and close to it.This makes the land in the CBD much more valuable, making billions for the property developers and hundreds of millions in additional rates annually for the City.
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By Gavin, on October 27th, 2015 D6WC has been mandated by the people to take the Mayor of Cape Town to task about the slow and corrupt land reform process in District6 for the last 17 years.
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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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By WebWolly, on May 19th, 2015  “Why is the mayor fast-tracking and driving the sale of land used freely and for over a century by families from across the Cape Peninsula for the benefit of a private developer who is behind the scenes and unnamed?”
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By WebWolly, on March 12th, 2015  “The land is agricultural land and it remains under the jurisdiction of the national minister of agriculture. No provincial or City approvals can supersede his and the national department’s authority over the land. The developer still needs approvals from both the national departments of agriculture and water affairs – any local authorisations granted cannot in isolation be wrenched from the rest of the legislative processes,”
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By WebWolly, on March 10th, 2015  What is of real concern is that a school will be built on both high potential soils and delineated wetlands, and the forum wonders what sort of legacy it will leave for future generations of schoolchildren as greater awareness evolves of our ever decreasing, scarce and irreplaceable natural resources. Once these resources are developed, they are damaged forever.
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By WebWolly, on March 10th, 2015 Marc Turok, the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) chairman, said: “Our stance is that Observatory and its people should be treated with respect by developers and the city officials. We have rights no less important than those who wish to come and transform our area.
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By WebWolly, on March 9th, 2015  Premier Zille, if you are indeed “committed” to curbing alcohol abuse, please answer why you are not using your political influence on your colleagues in the city to force them to follow recommendations made by the head of your own Health Department, Professor Craig Househam, to reduce the city’s liquor trading hours for licensed pubs and liquor stores, and have the Liquor Authority heed objections to liquor licence applications from communities suffering from high levels of social ills, while getting social workers to play a more prominent role in creating safer communities.
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By WebWolly, on February 27th, 2015 Why not implement recommendations made by experts and academics, such as Professor Craig Househam, to reduce the city’s liquor trading hours for licensed pubs and liquor stores, and have the Liquor Authority heed objections to liquor licence applications from communities suffering from high levels of social ills.
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