
A march by animal activists will be held in Simonstown to highlight Cape Town's baboon problem
This comes there are fears the City of Cape Town is planning to euthanise a baboon troop due to their urbanisation and splintering troops.
Samantha Hodgson, co-founder of Baboon Watch Western Cape said while they too would like to see the baboon in their natural habitat, killing the baboons is not a solution.
'We want the general public to know that A this is happening and B to approach the City, Cape Nature and SANParks and to say, stop the killing, let's sit down and talk about solutions so their solution right now is to actually kill," said Hodgson.
Educational Sociologist and Artist, Dr. Dylan McGarry has been instrumental in bringing to life the human coexistence with baboons, in a theatre production, called Unruly.
He has likened the current situation to the forced removals during apartheid
'I think what we are trying to say in the play is that we don't think that baboons are an ecological problem, try and step back a bit and look at in what ways is this an opportunity for us to think differently about how we live in the world with each other and in this time of climate crisis and ecological apartheid," said McGarry.
The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) which consists of the City of Cape Town, CapeNature, and SANParks says it has noted the planned march and will receive the organisers' memorandum of concerns.

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Daily Maverick
20-07-2025
- Daily Maverick
eThekwini taken to court for ‘possum' stance on Durban beach sewage crisis
Durban municipal leaders will come under renewed legal pressure this week to devise a more ambitious and 'credible' action plan to resolve a long-standing sewage management crisis that has led to widespread pollution of local rivers and repeated closures of tourist beaches. The civil court case over eThekwini's sewage management crisis, to be heard over two days in the Durban High Court from 24 to 25 July, is the culmination of separate legal actions brought by the DA and ActionSA more than two years ago. The two party actions have now been joined into a single case to determine whether the City has responded reasonably to resolve the crisis and to also consider new measures, including the appointment of an independent administrator to supervise the City's wastewater management and remediation plans. While the City has largely blamed the crisis on the devastating flood events of April and May 2022 and limited budgets to repair the damage, the DA argues that the crisis is the direct result of years of failure and neglect in maintaining and upgrading infrastructure to cope with sewage flows generated by nearly four million city residents. In heads of argument prepared by legal counsel Max du Plessis SC, Toni Palmer and Ruchir Naidoo, the DA alleges that the city leadership is 'playing possum' and resorted to 'opportunistic' excuses by denying culpability for the crisis. Noting that the city's Water and Sanitation department had been presented with United Nations awards in 2007 and 2011 for 'world-class' sanitation and service delivery, the DA counsel recalled that problems were evident before the floods. For example, the City tried to blame water hyacinth for beach closures in December 2021, when the true reason was high levels of E. coli sewage bacteria being pumped into the Umgeni River from dysfunctional sewage treatment works. 'The question eThekwini studiously avoids in explaining its position in these proceedings is what happened between 2007 and now, to take this award-winning system to its present state? Plainly the infrastructure did not age or break overnight. 'Had eThekwini intended seriously to dispute the averment that it had underprioritised its wastewater infrastructure in the past decade, it would have done so by disclosing the amounts, its plans and confirming the adequacy of its budgetary allocations during this time. eThekwini's answering affidavit is entirely mum on this.' But the City's counsel charge that the DA case is big on complaints but short on practical solutions. They say the party has deliberately downplayed relevant factors such as the unprecedented floods and major financial constraints facing the city. 'The impact of the floods has been so significant that the eThekwini Municipality will now have to effectively rebuild damaged and destroyed infrastructure.' The City further argues that it is being asked to 'achieve the impossible', also indicating that full rehabilitation of sewage infrastructure could extend over 25 years. Hastening the rehabilitation timeline would require diverting funds from other priorities such as housing, health or electricity. 'How much money and manpower can legitimately be moved away from housing to the (sewage) repair infrastructure? Does a new clinic get placed on hold until the repair work is undertaken. These are questions that the Democratic Alliance simply ignores…' But the DA denies this, stating: 'This case is about finding practical ways to end the sewerage crisis, while respecting that eThekwini, while floundering and excuse-prone, is nonetheless the local executive authority.' In the absence of political will and the City's failure to develop 'meaningful plans' to resolve the problems, court intervention was needed to craft a legal solution. 'This is relief which is forward-looking, meaningful and within this Court's powers to grant in order to resolve the true dispute between the parties: that is, securing compliance with environmental legislation in the interests of eThekwini residents and visitors and putting an end to continuing violation of human rights in contravention of the Constitution. 'The DA has not approached the Court to tell eThekwini that it knows better how to resolve the problem. It has not sought to dictate to eThekwini how it should prioritise spending of public money. It has not sought to dictate to eThekwini how to comply with the law. It has not sought to force a plan upon eThekwini, or bind its hands in developing such a plan.' Rather, it was seeking to ensure that eThekwini produced a 'proper' action plan rather than elastic wish-lists. 'The (current eThekwini action plan) is not a plan at all, but an aspirational wish-list, the timelines for which are not deadlines, but mere suggestions, which will be revised and pushed back in order to accommodate them being ongoingly missed by eThekwini.' The party further says that eThekwini strongly opposed any court supervision. 'Instead, it remains stuck in history, blaming its ageing infrastructure and limited budget as reasons to excuse it from complying with its constitutional and legal obligations… The law has been violated by the sewerage crisis for which eThekwini is responsible, and this must be recognised and declared by the Court.' Speaking ahead of the court case, DA provincial spokesperson Dean Macpherson said his party had offered to drop the case and reach an out-of-court settlement, but this had been refused. Therefore, his party had no alternative but to approach the courts because neither the provincial or national government had demonstrated a willingness to compel eThekwini to rectify the problems. 'We get no victory from dragging eThekwini and government departments to court to do their jobs and it should not be up to a political party to do this.' In heads of argument prepared by advocates Vinay Naidoo SC, Immanuel Veerasamy and Minikazi Mtati, the City estimates that it will cost R4.5-billion to rehabilitate wastewater treatment infrastructure and a further R1.6-billion to maintain this network thereafter. City officials argue that it is also unaffordable to protect all sewage pump stations from vandals and copper wire thieves as it would cost R900-million per year to provide on-site security guards at all 273 pump stations in the city. As a result, on-site security was only provided at certain 'higher risk' stations. 'The Democratic Alliance would have the court focus on water and sanitation obligations imposed on the municipality to the exclusion of all other obligations… A full reading of the eThekwini Municipality's answering affidavit and the DA's complaints demonstrates that the problems are being attended to, just not with the expediency which the DA would want the municipality to do.' DM


Eyewitness News
19-07-2025
- Eyewitness News
A march by animal activists will be held in Simonstown to highlight Cape Town's baboon problem
CAPE TOWN - Concerns animal activists will be staging a march in Simonstown on Saturday to highlight issues around the baboon population in Cape Town. This comes there are fears the City of Cape Town is planning to euthanise a baboon troop due to their urbanisation and splintering troops. Samantha Hodgson, co-founder of Baboon Watch Western Cape said while they too would like to see the baboon in their natural habitat, killing the baboons is not a solution. 'We want the general public to know that A this is happening and B to approach the City, Cape Nature and SANParks and to say, stop the killing, let's sit down and talk about solutions so their solution right now is to actually kill," said Hodgson. Educational Sociologist and Artist, Dr. Dylan McGarry has been instrumental in bringing to life the human coexistence with baboons, in a theatre production, called Unruly. He has likened the current situation to the forced removals during apartheid 'I think what we are trying to say in the play is that we don't think that baboons are an ecological problem, try and step back a bit and look at in what ways is this an opportunity for us to think differently about how we live in the world with each other and in this time of climate crisis and ecological apartheid," said McGarry. The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) which consists of the City of Cape Town, CapeNature, and SANParks says it has noted the planned march and will receive the organisers' memorandum of concerns.

IOL News
16-07-2025
- IOL News
City spends R28 million on foreign national accommodation as eviction plans unfold
Foreign nationals inside Wingfield tent. Image: Ian Landsberg Documents citing the eviction of foreign nationals from Wingfield Tent in Kensington and Paint the City in Bellville have revealed that its upkeep has cost state organs, including the City and the Department of Home Affairs, R28 million in maintenance since its inception. In an affidavit by Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill Lewis, revealed that it cost the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and other government departments over R400 000 per month for the running cost of Wingfield Tent and over R240 000 per month for Paint the City. In the court documents shared with Cape Argus, spreadsheets, including the eviction application, details of the foreign nationals' places of residency and other particulars were clarified. 'I attach hereto FA23' an excel spreadsheet. Demonstrating the total costs that have been incurred by the DHA to date. As appears therefrom an amount of approximately R28 m has been expended by the state in accommodating the respondents,' said Hill-Lewis via his affidavit. 'The City sourced, supplied and initially paid for the rental of the tent at the Wingfield site. This was done on an expedited and urgent basis during April 2020. 'The City thereafter received a negative audit finding by the Auditor General regarding its expenditure to its expenditure at Wingfield. The expenditure was objectionable for two reasons.. 'To date an amount of over R15 million has been expended by the DHA on the cost of Wingfield alone. The current monthly spend at Wingfield is at least R424 905.00.' He suggested that rental for the Wingfield tent was R356 500.00, mobile toilets R31 500 and generator and fuel cost 36 905.00. Hill-Lewis said in Paint the City, the rental of the tent was R221 829.90 per month and mobile toilets and cleaning cost R26 946 60. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ 'I am advised by the DHA that to date an amount of R7 million has been expended by the DHA on the costs of Paint City property and which amount continues to increase by at least R248 773.70 per month,' he stated The City in collaboration with the City, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson and Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber made an eviction application for the occupants of the tents. According to the documents, respondents (the occupants), are to be evicted within 30 days of the court's order and if they do not vacate, the Sheriff and police will be authorized to remove them and any structures they occupy. The responding parties have fifteen days to file answering affidavits after notifying their intention to oppose and failure to respond will result in the application being granted without opposition on October 8. The documents further outline that Paint the City has 340 individuals whose gender distribution are predominantly male and female individuals, with nationalities primarily from Burundi, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the site currently has 150 documented and 190 undocumented. Paint City measures approximately 29,000 m² and has a marquee tent of 960 m² while Wingfield measures 133,616 m² and has a marquee tent of 2,000 m² and both properties were initially used for emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 lockdown. The court document cites that the occupation has led to illegal taxi ranks and other unauthorised structures around the properties. Approximately 160 individuals occupy the Wingfield site, while around 200 are at Paint City and the living conditions are poor, with issues related to hygiene and safe. Earlier this month, the refugees said the plans to evict them were against their human rights and that they continued to live in squalor and that their tent was damaged, in what they believed was an attack. The DHA did not respond to Cape Argus queries. Get your news on the go, click here to join the Cape Argus News WhatsApp channel. Cape Argus