Spinach is among the vegetables grown at the Rev Motlalepula Chabaku Food Garden. (Photo: Sandile Nkomo / GDARDE) Onke Ngcuka – 11 March 2024 The Green Army employs more than 6,000 people in Gauteng who clean illegal dumping sites and clear open and green spaces while promoting communal and household food gardens. The Green Army,…
Budget cuts dampen Cape Town’s river rehabilitation, with key projects delayed for 10 years
Kristin Engel – 19 March 2024 Cape Town’s urban landscape has been transforming as the city rehabilitates its waterways through its Liveable Urban Waterways programme. But recent decisions have prompted 10-year delays in key river projects, despite millions already spent on design and technical planning. Many of Cape Town’s inland waterways are in poor condition…
The new Arctic: Amid record heat, ecosystems morph and wildlife struggle
Sharon Guynup – 14 February 2024 Walruses have traversed the Arctic for millennia, gregarious pinnipeds that rest en masse on drifting pack ice, diving to feed on crabs, clams and other seafloor delicacies. Icy platforms also serve as safe birthing and nursery grounds. But as the far north rapidly warms and sea ice disappears, some herds…
Town Hall meeting in Observatory 27th March
Communication from OCA chair Leslie London to Ward 57 councillor Yusuf Mohamed: Dear Yusuf The Observatory Civic Association will be hosting a Town Hall meeting on the Wed 27th March at 6pm and hope that you will be able to attend and share an update on plans for the Village Green. The meeting is intended…
SAAO Open Nights
SAAO Open Nights The SAAO’s headquarters are in the Cape Town suburb of Observatory on the site of the former Royal Observatory. The historic building is recognised as a National Heritage Site, and houses administration facilities, offices, and the SAAO library. You are welcome to visit the SAAO in Cape Town on SAAO Open Nights, on…
Looking for new Arts & Heritage chair
Dear all As you may or may not know, the OCA is searching for a new chair of Arts & Culture (among various other positions, as listed on the our website). If you or anyone you know would like to take up the position (or any other vacant position), please get into contact with us at…
Cape Town Carnival
Join us on Saturday 16 March for the Weird, Wacky and Wonderful – Lekker Carnival on the Green Point Fan Walk!
Unhealthy racism and inequality
Nadine Dirks (the former Liesbeek Action Campaign media officer) recently published her first novel titled Hot Water. Nadine Dirks – 7 February 2024 The South African context of a faulty public healthcare system, apartheid spatial planning and class and race divides breeds a strange state of being. Either we endure suffering silently, escaping into another world…
The cities stripping out concrete for earth and plants
Chris Baraniuk – 23rd February 2024 From Australia to Ontario, cities are taking up unnecessary stretches of concrete and asphalt, allowing nature to take hold in their place. On a hot July day, Katherine Rose picked up a sturdy metal pole and jammed it under the tempting lip of a pre-cut concrete slab. Rose, communications and…
Cape Town launches cash-for-power applications for home solar users
Hanno Labuschagne – 12 February 2024 The City of Cape Town has started allowing households to apply to earn cash for excess power generated by their solar PV systems. Speaking at the city’s 2050 Energy Strategy launch on 12 February 2024, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that the first round of applications for the Cash for Power…