Urban gardens one solution to corruption and hunger

11 June 2022: Loraine Gay Mfeka, 72, started her urban farm on an overgrown, illegal dumpsite in Montana Park, Pretoria. She cleared the brush and now grows organic vegetables for the community and passers-by. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee) Anna Majavu – 20 June 2022 Academics and pavement gardeners say growing food in the city can…

Public Employment Program (PEP)

Dear Obs Residents I am writing to alert you to three updates which include two appeals 1. The OCA along with other partners is calling on Obs Residents to sign a petition appealling to the City not to discontinue the Public Employment Program (PEP) tackling homelessness in Cape Town. Organisations supporting programmes to address homelessness…

Petition calls for the City to extend funding for Public Employment Programme for the homelessness

Cape Town – An Observatory resident has started an urgent petition calling for the City to not discontinue the Public Employment Programme (PEP) addressing homelessness in the metro at the end of June. The petition has been endorsed by the Observatory Civic Association and the Observatory Neighbourhood Watch. Streetscape Khulisa partnered with 13 local NGOs…

How to Steal a Country

How to Steal a Country is the story of the Gupta family’s spectacular rise from flea market shoe salesmen to establishing a massive black owned business empire in South Africa. It runs as a suspenseful detective story uncovering one huge bribery scandal after another, involving the top echelons of political power and several well-known multinational…

Tell us how to manage Cape Town’s land

We have draft plans out for public comment that will affect the way our city’s land is used and developed, and you can have a say in the overall look and feel of Cape Town. The comment period ends Tuesday, 30 August 2022. Cape Town is a growing city and new developments, such as housing,…

OBS Watch Update

Please join Observatory Neighbourhood Watch for our first community update and feedback session. Learn what the ObsWatch team has been doing to make our community a safer place, hear about our innovative approach to what a Neighbourhood Watch can be and do, and find how YOU can get involved. Open to members and prospective-members, so…

Another famous Goldberg emanating from Obs

From Cape Historical society #masekin : Morris Goldberg Morris was born in Observatory on the 25 October 1936. He was a famous South African soprano, alto, and tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and flutist. Initially self-taught, as a teenager he began playing with the saxophonist Harold Jaftha in various Cape Town nightclubs. In 1960, shortly after completing…

Restaurants use a lot of plastic!

Plastic bags are the leading cause of death in marine life, its harmful to our environment and they contribute to mass litter within our communities. We can all play a part in lessening the impact of climate change and keeping our oceans plastic-free, and the restaurant industry is no exception. Let’s take action by signing…