By Sandisiwe Shoba, 10 September 2021 A drive to vaccinate the homeless in Claremont was almost derailed when a small group of anti-vaxxers showed up and began spewing conspiracies and profanities. Vaccine hesitancy is still rife amongst street dwellers who are often vulnerable to severe illness from Covid-19. “Don’t take the jab! They’re trying to…
Amazon’s Cape Town base: The battle to save South African culture
14 September 2021 Campaigners in the South African city of Cape Town are trying to halt the building of the African headquarters for Amazon. It’s a battle that pits cultural concerns against economic interests, as the BBC’s Vumani Mkhize writes. It is an overcast day in Cape Town and the scenic Table Mountain is shrouded…
The Liesbeek Action Campaign: ‘Yes, misinformation must stop, but it is not coming from opponents of the development’
By Professor Leslie London, Tauriq Jenkins and Marc Turok for the Liesbeek Action Campaign, 25 August 2021 The Liesbeek Action Campaign believes that misinformation is rife with regard to the River Club development. However, it is not the opponents of the development who are misinforming the public. This is a response to Mr Jody Aufrichtig’s…
Jeff Bezos is neither an altruist nor a socialist, and Amazon’s River Club venture is not about job creation
Jeff Rudin, 6 September 2021 It should come as no surprise that those who would turn the River Club into Amazon’s African headquarters do so with jobs as bait. Life for most South Africans has always been cheap. Covid-19 and the continuation of self-imposed austerity economics designed to attract foreign investment has made those lives…
Update from OCA chair
Dear OCA members I am writing to update you on the situation with respect to the re-development at the River Club. 1. As you know, the Observatory Civic Association represented by myself and the Goringhaicona Khoi-Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council represented by Tauriq Jenkins lodged papers on the 2nd August seeking (a) a High Court review…
Latest vaccine information
Obs gets a C19 vaccine site! UCT has opened a large vaccine site at Forest Hill Residence on Main Road. It will be open every weekday and accepts walk-ins. Please register on EVDS if you can as it makes the process smoother for everyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb4nREe-3Z0 Everyone 18 and over is eligible to get vaccine. Vaccines…
‘Western Cape’s stubborn third wave peak has been longer than first two waves’
The Western Cape Health Department’s Dr. Saadiq Kariem and public health specialist Prof Landon Myer chat about the protracted third wave in the province. – The third wave in the Western Cape has been much longer than the previous two waves of Covid-19 – Western Cape health officials say they are seeing a slow, but…
The UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre to open on 1 September 2021
31 August 2021 Dear colleagues and students I am proud to announce that the Western Cape Department of Health and the University of Cape Town (UCT) will open the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre at our Forest Hill residence complex in Main Road, Mowbray, on 1 September 2021. The entrance is on Broad Street…
Development of dodgy tricks at the River Club
30 June 2021 by Steve Kretzmann A defamatory letter to author MacKenzie Scott, whose ex-husband was Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, was attached to a complaint recently sent to the BackaBuddy crowdfunding platform the Observatory Civic Association is using to raise funds for its legal challenge to the R4.5bn River Club development. The Observatory Civic Association…
Social issues Report August 2021
Thank-you to everyone who donated towards the extension of the Obz Rainbow House keeping their doors open during the coldest recorded winter in 10 years. The Obz Rainbow House is a supported housing model, piloted by OBSID, and assists its residents by offering accommodation as well as psychosocial support during the day in work sites….