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Thousands of homeless people live in Cape Town. Many of them beg as their main source of income. The City of Cape Town and some homeless organisations discourage giving cash to beggars. Others disagree. In this video, we ask: does giving money to beggars make their lives better, or worse? Learn more about: City of […]

The National Shelter Movement of South Africa is hoping to raise R500,000 to keep its national helpline running smoothly. The helpline receives 4,000 to 6,000 calls annually. Based in Johannesburg, the helpline is operated by six trained social workers and a large team of NSMSA staff members. Five years ago, the National Shelter Movement of

The Land Court has ruled that landowners must go through a mediation process before seeking an eviction order from a court A full bench of the court said this week that mediation is mandatory under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA). “Good faith negotiations” are not sufficient, the judges ruled. Mediation — and

A new campus for the Rivoni School of the Blind was supposed to be completed in 2024, but the massive project, now budgeted at R198-million, stands unused and incomplete. The contractor has been placed in business rescue, stalling the project. A new sub-contractor was appointed in May, with an additional R29-million allocated to complete construction,

With an annual budget of R3.27-billion, it will take the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure two decades to eliminate the maintenance backlog on 56,000 government-owned properties, according to public works minister Dean Macpherson. The government has about 81,000 properties in total, but only 56,000 have had assessments done to estimate maintenance costs. The current

The Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, has called for a renewed focus on ethical leadership as the foundation for turning around the decline in municipalities across South Africa. Speaking at the Local Government Indaba in Gauteng, the MEC said that without ethical leadership, no number of new

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has delivered a stark warning on the state of local government, saying while progress has been made in many areas, a number of municipalities still battle poor financial management and eroding public trust. Speaking at the Local Government Indaba in Midrand on Thursday, Hlabisa said too many

With Cape Town now ranked the ninth most congested city in the world, Western Cape MEC for Mobility Isaac Sileku has warned that traffic gridlock is more than an inconvenience – it is undermining livelihoods, businesses, and the environment. Launching Mobility Month on Wednesday with a panel discussion in Cape Town, Sileku brought together major

The Gauteng Department of Social Development has reverted to accepting email applications from non-profit organisations after its new funding platform flopped. The platform has been problematic since its launch, with organisations unable to log in or save their applications. Now, two weeks before the deadline, the department has sent organisations a new application form to

A new magistrates’ court has been under construction in Mamelodi, Tshwane, since 2014. But work has been halted intermittently and the site was abandoned in 2023. The Department of Public Works says the “construction mafia” is partly responsible for delays. R164-million has been spent so far. A new contractor was to have been appointed last