Latest news with #CapeTalk
Eyewitness News
09-07-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Primedia Broadcasting shines with five finalists in 2025 Bookmark Awards!
Launched in 2024, our Primedia+ app is in the running for the best Publisher Innovation Award. The app brings all the best content from our four stations (702, CapeTalk, 947, and Kfm) into one central place, so our listeners never miss a thing. It is also home to exclusive Primedia+ content, including bespoke podcasts, videos, and more.
IOL News
26-06-2025
- General
- IOL News
Kirstenbosch Garden faces challenges amid climate change and staffing pressures
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden has long been celebrated as the jewel in Cape Town's crown, showcasing South Africa's rich botanical heritage. Yet recently, a growing number of visitors have expressed concern that this cherished garden is no longer at its best. What was once a pristine tourist attraction now shows signs of neglect, labels marking long-dead plants, and dominant species have been allowed to overwhelm weaker varieties. The succulent house, a popular attraction, has suffered too, with many older plants having been left untended, and the glass barriers meant to protect the displays are broken or missing. The curator of Kirstenbosch, Werner Voigt, openly acknowledged the issue in a recent interview with John Maytham on CapeTalk. Without making excuses, Voigt attributed the current state of the garden to the combined effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and staffing shortages. He reassured listeners that steps were being taken to restore the garden to its former glory. 'Whilst I agree that the standard, just in terms of maintenance, hasn't been up to the standard that people have gotten used to, that has changed in the last three months or so,' Voigt said. He added that this period of adversity was being treated as a learning opportunity for the team and promised a noticeable improvement by the end of August or September.
Eyewitness News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
'We don't want to be in South Africa' – Refugees plead for relocation as CoCT moves to evict
CAPE TOWN - Hundreds of refugees living in tented camps in Cape Town say they're not refusing help from authorities but were pleading for relocation out of South Africa as the city seeks a court order to evict them. Around 360 foreign nationals, many of them asylum seekers, have been living in two temporary sites — Paint City in Bellville and Wingfield in Maitland — since 2020. About 800 of them were moved there after being removed from a church in Cape Town's city centre, where they had camped out in protest, demanding repatriation or relocation to a third country. In a video statement posted on social media on 19 June, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that the city was now moving forward with formal eviction proceedings. ALSO READ: Foreign nationals at Bellville, Wingfield tent sites have refused all offers of help - Hill-Lewis But the group at the sites said they weren't fighting to stay in South Africa, they just didn't want to be deported to the countries they fled. Many insist they've been asking for international relocation, not local reintegration. Mayor Hill-Lewis told CapeTalk's John Maytham that efforts from agencies, including the UNHCR, had not swayed what he called "die-hards": "Even the United Nations Commission on Refugees has helped, or tried to help, but they have stubbornly insisted that they should be transported to Canada. They will only leave if they get free passage to Canada — which is obviously not going to happen." "We don't want to be here anymore. We just want the UN or someone to help us leave South Africa, but not go back to our country," said one refugee who spoke anonymously. Congolese national, Mukanda Lambert, who lives at the Wingfield site, said it was untrue that they were occupying the land unlawfully. "We didn't come here by ourselves — the very same government put us here. I don't know what game they're playing." Others who took up the offer to return to South African communities said that reintegration efforts have failed because the support offered was insufficient. "Some of us took the money, but they haven't really supported us," said a 24-year-old mother who was born in South Africa without documentation. "They only gave R2,000 per family to move and as a family of five how do you pay rent, buy food and other needs? We'd hoped they'd help us get our papers so that we can live normal lives." In the same statement published via social media, the Department of Home Affairs said the eviction formed part of a broader effort to reclaim public spaces and enforce immigration laws. "There were numerous offers made in cooperation with international agencies to relocate many of the people. Many of them took up the offers but some have refused and today we're saying enough is enough," said Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber. "The department recently launched 'Operation New Broom' to signal our commitment to enforcing the rule of law when it comes to illegal immigrants occupying public spaces." The land occupied by the camps is earmarked for possible future social housing projects in partnership with the city, according to Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson. Meanwhile, those who remain at the camps described life as increasingly dire, with a lack of sanitation leaving people to use plastic bags, makeshift structures from cardboard have been erected inside the tents and illness is common. "We live like we're not human," said one woman. "But still, we stay because there's nowhere else to go. If the eviction is successful, we'll be here waiting for the City of Cape Town to throw us out." With eviction proceedings now formally under way, many refugees said they'd have no choice but to wait on the city's next move because they had nowhere else to go.
IOL News
02-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Cape Town's municipal bills: Rising costs and proposed relief measures
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers Following public criticism over sharp increases in monthly bills, particularly among residents in the R4 million to R7 million property range, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced the City is considering new measures to cushion the blow of rising municipal bills in its R39.7 billion 2025/26 draft budget. Speaking on Cape Talk, Hill-Lewis said that while the budget prioritises relief for properties under R2.5 million, the City is modelling expanded rebates for homeowners with properties valued up to R7 million. 'The criticism that I've heard, and which I really wholeheartedly accept, is that not everyone in the R4m–R7m property band is wealthy, or cash-flush,' Hill-Lewis said. 'You may have bought your home a long time ago, you've paid it off, now you have a very valuable home, but you don't have the income to match it.' Relief measures under consideration include: Extending the current R450 000 rates-free benefit beyond the R5 million property value cap; Increasing the income threshold for pensioner rebates (currently set at R22 000/month); Reducing new City-Wide Cleaning charges for properties between R2.5 million and R7.5 million. In a notable shift, the City cut Eskom's 11.32% electricity price hike to 2% for most households. This is enabled by removing the 10% electricity surcharge that previously funded other City services, now replaced by a ring-fenced cleaning tariff. While this tariff reform led to higher bills for some mid-range properties, Hill-Lewis argued that the electricity savings should significantly offset those increases. 'Total bill increases can drop dramatically when taking electricity usage into account due to the major price relief in Cape Town,' he said. New water and sanitation tariffs will bring lower or minimal increases for 140 000 lower-income homes. Meanwhile, 250 000 properties under R500 000 continue to receive free basic services, the highest allocation among SA metros. Fixed charges will now be linked to property value, rather than connection size, to ease pressure on lower-income households.
IOL News
01-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Facing rising costs: Cape Town's strategy for municipal bill relief
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced that the City is considering new measures to cushion the blow of rising municipal bills in its R39.7 billion 2025/26 Draft Budget, particularly for middle-income homeowners and pensioners. Speaking on Cape Talk, Hill-Lewis emphasised that while the budget already prioritises relief for properties under R2.5 million, the City is actively modelling expanded rebates for homeowners with properties valued up to R7 million. This move comes in response to public criticism over sharp increases in monthly bills, particularly among residents in the R4 million to R7 million property range. 'The criticism that I've heard, and which I really wholeheartedly accept, is that not everyone in the R4m–R7m property band is wealthy, or cash-flush,' Hill-Lewis said. 'You may have bought your home a long time ago, you've paid it off, now you have a very valuable home, but you don't have the income to match it.' Key relief measures under consideration Extending the current R450,000 rates-free benefit beyond the R5 million property value cap. Increasing the income threshold for pensioner rebates (currently set at R22,000/month). Reducing new City-Wide Cleaning charges for properties between R2.5 million and R7.5 million. Electricity relief and structural reforms In a notable shift, the City has slashed Eskom's 11.32 per cent electricity price hike to just 2 per cent for most households. This is enabled by removing the 10 per cent electricity surcharge that previously funded other City services, now replaced by a ring-fenced cleaning tariff. While this tariff reform led to higher bills for some mid-range properties, Hill-Lewis argued that the electricity savings should significantly offset those increases. 'Total bill increases can drop dramatically when taking electricity usage into account due to the major price relief in Cape Town,' he said. Water and sanitation reforms New water and sanitation tariffs will bring lower or minimal increases for 140,000 lower-income homes. Meanwhile, 250,000 properties under R500,000 continue to receive free basic services, the highest allocation among SA metros. Fixed charges will now be linked to property value, rather than connection size, to ease pressure on lower-income households.
