Latest news with #CityOfCapeTown
The Herald
a day ago
- The Herald
Cape Town law enforcement officer arrested for 'kidnapping, extortion, murder'
A City of Cape Town law enforcement officer was arrested on Monday on charges of kidnapping, extortion and the murder of a man who disappeared after going to purchase a vehicle in Bellville. The 43-year-old suspect was apprehended during a multidisciplinary intelligence-led operation comprising the Hawks and the provincial anti-kidnapping and organised crime units. The victim was allegedly kidnapped in Kraaifontein on May 16 after telling a friend he was going to view the vehicle. Another friend received a phone call from the victim who reported he had been kidnapped and was being assaulted. 'Simultaneously, a ransom of R100,000 for the victim's release was demanded by the suspects. Further phone calls were made by the suspects whereby the ransom was reduced to R10,000,' said Hawks spokesperson Lt-Col Siyabulela Vukubi. An amount of R5,000 was deposited into a given bank account and the suspects demanded the balance. A day after the kidnapping, police swooped on addresses in Philippi and Kleinvlei which resulted in the arrest of four suspects aged 30 to 36 who have already appeared in court. 'The team was led to an open field on the dunes between Monwabisi beach and Macassar, where one of the accused pointed out a shallow grave where the victim was killed and buried,' said Vukubi. 'It transpired that the City of Cape Town law enforcement vehicle, which was driven by the suspect, was used in the commission of this heinous crime.'
Zawya
03-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: City of Cape Town, GreenCape unite to boost agritech growth
The City of Cape Town, in partnership with green energy growth organisation GreenCape, recently hosted the inaugural AgTech Connect session. This event brought together investors, business leaders, and government officials for high-impact networking and the exchange of ideas focused on agricultural technologies aimed at strengthening the sector. Source: Supplied | Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth addresses the audience at the City and GreenCape AgTech Connect session. With climate change and other challenges threatening agriculture, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to safeguard the industry for current and future generations. 'Across Africa, agritech grew 44% year-on-year between 2016 and 2019, and is projected to reach a continent-wide value of $1 trillion by 2030. "This presents major opportunities for innovators and investors in Cape Town, where there exists an ecosystem of support from organisations, such as the City government and GreenCape," says Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth. Driving sector growth and innovation The session focused on identifying pathways for growth, investment, and policy support to help scale the agritech sector. Technologies developed in Cape Town and its surroundings are well-positioned to support the resilience and expansion of agriculture across Africa. 'Over the past five to 10 years, the Western Cape's agricultural sector grew at an average annual rate of 2.5% and 2.7%, reaching R25.6 billion in 2023. The GreenCape Sustainable Agri Market Intelligence Report 2025 indicates that the sector has further maintained its national share at 16% for agriculture and 21% for agri-processing. "To build an industry that can withstand challenges, both known and unknown, we have to encourage bold solutions. For example, drones have become one of the leading solutions for the sector and the market is currently valued at just over R1bn, with forecasts saying that it will more than triple over the next five years. "This is why the City funds and works with partners such as GreenCape, who help us to understand and realise the investment potential of emerging industries while energising the development of small businesses and job opportunities,' says Alderman Vos. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
15-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Moody's upgrade boosts Cape Town's credit rating close to South Africa's sovereign level
Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the City of Cape Town's credit rating from Ba3 to Ba2, reflecting the city's strong financial governance and improving economic outlook. This upgrade positions Cape Town's credit rating just one notch below South Africa's sovereign rating of Ba1, highlighting its fiscal resilience and effective management. One of the big reasons driving the upgrade is that Cape Town has really stepped up its revenue-collection game. The City has rolled out prepaid electricity meters, which means fewer people are falling behind on payments—and that's improved the city's cash flow quite a bit. It's also been managing its finances wisely. Even while planning major upgrades, the City has kept debt levels low. Moody's expects Cape Town's financial performance to keep improving over the next year or so, even more than they initially thought. Infrastructure powers growth Then there's the city's massive investment in infrastructure—about R39.5 bn over the next three years. A lot of that funding will go into critical services like water, sanitation, and electricity. On top of that, the projects are expected to generate around 130,000 jobs in the construction sector. The implications of the upgrade include: Enhanced borrowing capacity: The improved credit rating is anticipated to lower borrowing costs, facilitating more affordable financing for infrastructure projects. Increased investor confidence: The upgrade signals to investors that Cape Town is a financially stable and well-managed municipality, potentially attracting more investment. Economic growth and job creation: The infrastructure investments are expected to stimulate economic growth and reduce unemployment, particularly in lower-income communities. This credit-rating upgrade underscores Cape Town's commitment to sound financial practices and its proactive approach to addressing infrastructure challenges, positioning the city for sustained economic development. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
13-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: Plan to use properties owned by City of Cape Town for homeless project
Streetscapes is fundraising to buy seven inner-city units to expand its reintegration programme. For the past four years, Streetscapes has been running a self-sufficient laundry at its urban farm in the city centre. The organisation plans to replicate the solar- and rainwater-powered laundromat and showers at the new site to cut operational costs and reduce pressure on municipal infrastructure. Photos: Marecia Damons / GroundUp - Streetscapes is raising funds to buy seven City-owned units in Cape Town's city centre at a fraction of its value. - The organisation hopes to convert the properties into homes for formerly homeless people who are part of the Streetscapes programme. - The City of Cape Town says the units are no longer needed. But the sale of the properties would require a public participation process and Council approval. - Streetscapes currently support 150 formerly homeless people with housing, work opportunities and peer-led care. Non-profit organisation Streetscapes is raising funds in the hope of buying seven housing units from the City of Cape Town, with plans to convert them into homes for previously homeless people. James Vos, the City's mayco member for economic growth, said six of the units are vacant, and three are still tenanted. He said the units were initially acquired because of plans to widen roads decades ago. Those plans have since been scrapped, and the City no longer needs them. Vos said a sale of these properties would require council's approval, and a public participation process. The sale could be subject to a clause in the City's Immovable Property policy, limiting the use of the property to social care. 'The policy provides for social care properties to be sold at a purchase price of between 10% to 25% of fair market value,' Vos said. For the past decade, Streetscapes has worked to end homelessness by supporting people with jobs and houses. Their model aims to get people work. The organisation currently supports 150 formerly homeless people, through work, housing and and other support. In its peer-to-peer programmes, people who were previously homeless or struggled with addiction are trained to support others in similar situations. At Streetscapes, 'peers' offer guidance and help clients with medication, housing and daily challenges. Since 2015, Streetscapes has worked to end chronic homelessness by supporting people with jobs, housing and rehabilitation. Among the beneficiaries of this programme are (from left) Dolan Davis, Rudy Basson, Jonathan Manuel, Thabo Koti and Sandile Mhlongo, who all work for Streetscapes as peer coordinators. Jesse Laitinen, Streetscapes' founder and manager, said the new houses would be offered to peer counsellors and people who had been through the first stage of their programme and were now ready to find work and a home. They would be able to live with their families, close to the city, and pay affordable rent. The discounted value of the properties would be R2.5-million. Streetscapes is trying to raise R250,000 through a crowdfunding campaign and is approaching businesses to fund the rest. 'What we want to do is create a home in each of the units so that they won't be a dorm or an institution,' Laitinen said. Securing the properties would allow Streetscapes to scale up its reintegration programme for previously homeless people. One beneficiary of that programme is Sandile Mhlongo, a former soccer player who came to Cape Town from Durban in 2002. After ending up on the streets in 2005, he moved through various shelters and programmes before finding stability with Streetscapes. He began by cleaning streets in Woodstock, then moved into one of the Streetscapes houses. 'When you're part of the programme, they aim to put you in the house to uplift yourself,' Mhlongo said. 'Housing means a lot to us because some of us never had housing before.' Mhlongo now works as a peer supervisor. 'We give people medication. If they need shelter or if they have issues they can't deal with alone, we intervene as peers to try to put them back on track.' Streetscape runs a food garden in the city centre. The garden is cultivated by their formerly homeless clients as part of their programme of being reintegrated into society. Another peer worker, Dolan Davis, spent two decades on the streets before joining Streetscapes in 2021. He began working in gardens and later moved to the organisation's Kuils River farm. 'I started setting goals for myself and changed my whole mentality,' Davis said. Thabo Koti from Kraaifontein said Streetscapes had helped him recover from addiction and trauma. 'They were the first organisation that actually walked the journey with me into recovery.' The most beneficial thing about Streetscapes housing is that it restores your dignity. You forget what home is.' He currently works in a Streetscapes garden in Trafalgar and is a house co-ordinator at Chester House, one of Streetscapes' properties. 'Getting those seven units would mean they'd be able to assist more people, give them hope and give them a sense of belonging and worth,' Koti said. Jonathan Manuel from Delft was homeless at just nine-years-old after his mother died in 1995. 'I was on the streets my entire life and didn't know what it meant to sleep in a house,' he said. After getting his ID through Streetscapes, he was offered housing and work at the organisation. 'Now that Streetscapes placed me in Chester House, I feel like I'm part of a family and I feel the warmth.' The new site could also be a model for green development. 'We started experimenting with this beautiful painted container, which is a laundromat. It works completely off the grid,' said Laitinen. Streetscapes plans to replicate the solar- and rainwater-powered laundromat and showers should they get the new property. To fund construction and upgrades, Laitinen said Streetscapes is approaching solar and construction companies for cost-effective partnerships. Asked whether there was a timeframe for the public participation process, the City said it did not have one yet as it is 'still dependent on several factors'. 'The City's Property Transactions Department is undertaking technical investigations, whereafter the public participation process will commence,' the City said. It emphasised that no final decision on a sale has been taken, and that the proposal remains under assessment ahead of the public participation phase. While the programme's immediate impact might seem small, Laitinen believes its symbolic value is much greater. 'If you have 100 people off the streets in one month, that's a drop in the ocean. But it creates hope, and changes the system. This is also symbolic of how we all pull together: the state gives what it has, the NGOs give what they have, and corporates come together. 'To me, it's the model for how we can do things differently, and that is hugely exciting,' Laitinen said. One of the Streetscapes gardens in the city centre. This article was originally published on GroundUp.
News24
10-05-2025
- News24
‘Deeply appreciated': Khayelitsha residents welcome crackdown on hijacking syndicates
A person was arrested during an operation to shut down a hijacking syndicate in Cape Town. The operation comes amid a reported surge in hijackings of municipal vehicles. Khayelitsha residents have welcomed the crackdown on 'thugs' hijacking people to extort morning from them. Khayelitsha residents, who have seen a noticeable increase in hijacking syndicates operating in the area, have welcomed a joint crackdown operation by the local police and City of Cape Town law enforcement. The alleged syndicates target people mostly in Harare, Makhaza, Lingelethu, SiteB and Mfuleni areas. Earlier this week, an alleged hijacking syndicate was busted amid a surge in hijackings of municipal vehicles. The City of Cape Town said its law enforcement agencies and the police shut down a syndicate operating in Lingelethu West during an operation on Wednesday. The operation comes amid a surge in the hijacking of municipal vehicles in Cape Town and only weeks after the City announced that it was looking to bolster its security services for municipal employees. Over the last financial year, the City has recorded a marked increase in the hijackings of municipal vehicles. Between July 2024 and April 2025, 113 City vehicles were hijacked, which increased from 57 vehicles during the previous financial year. Some residents who spoke to News24 said the criminals have long been using the area as their 'meeting spot' and target municipal workers who are called to the area for service delivery complaints. While most of the residents said they didn't know the identities of the syndicate members, some have alleged that they are foreign nationals working with criminals in the area to extort money from people. 'It's an easy way for them to make money. They especially target the small local spaza shops, municipal workers and the security guards that escort the workers to the area,' said a resident who asked to remain anonymous for her safety. She said most of the private security guards that escort government workers to the area have firearms on them, which the criminals are after. She said the hijackers 'don't care what time of the day it is' and often operate without masks because the 'weapons they have are their protection'. Another resident, who wanted to be identified only as 'Sipho', said hijackings in the area had been a common occurrence 'for years', adding he believed the police only acted when someone was killed. Sipho said: These are dangerous criminals. They don't care for your life. If they see you live a lifestyle that indicates you are loaded with money, they will come for you and milk you dry He said the recent clampdown on the syndicates 'highlights the need for safety in our communities'. Khayelitsha Community Policing Forum (CPF) spokesperson Phindile George said hijacking remained a challenge in the community. 'We welcome efforts by the SAPS (South African Police Service) and law enforcement to clamp down on hijacking syndicates as this scares away services to the community of Khayelitsha. 'In particular, essential service gets delayed as they now have to be escorted by police, [who are] already under severe strain,' said George. George said what was even more concerning was that ambulances were also being targeted. 'For every traumatised essential service personnel, it means that they would be taken off work for trauma counselling, which hinders service delivery,' said George. George said residents had welcomed all efforts by law enforcement agencies to combat crime in townships and ensure residents' safety and the operation of all community services. 'We call upon local government to ensure that they ramp up the CCTV camera systems and deploy licence plate reading cameras to ensure that there is a quicker track-and-trace mechanism on reported hijacked and stolen vehicles in the community. 'We also call upon the municipality to service all existing cameras in the area so they are in working condition. This would also assist in building capacity and bolster the local crime-fighting efforts,' said George. Lingelethu CPF chairperson Lunga Guza said they welcomed the intervention by law enforcement agencies. 'We welcome any intervention that will generally help reduce crime in one of the areas affected by the hijackings; one could even say it has become the norm in the area,' said Guza. He said the police had worked tirelessly to shut the syndicates down. 'To us as residents, it's fantastic. The more these criminals get caught and arrested, the less fear the community lives in,' said Guza. 'We are very happy that the City of Cape Town has also realised that this is a pandemic, especially in our precinct. These are people's lives we are dealing with that hijackers think nothing of. 'So more help by the government is deeply appreciated,' said Guza. According to the CPF, it's not just government workers coming under attack by criminals, but almost every vehicle in the precinct. 'It should not just be government vehicles prioritised, but every citizen's vehicle should be protected from the hands of hijackers. 'We must protect people's lives,' said Guza. Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said City officials embarked on a joint intelligence-driven operation with the police and raided a property in Town Two where they uncovered a stash of items presumably used in hijackings and also recovered a vehicle that was reported stolen in Muizenberg last year. 'Over the last financial year, the City has recorded a marked increase in the hijackings of municipal vehicles. In the period between July 2024 to April 2025, a total of 113 City vehicles have been hijacked, which increased from 57 vehicles during the previous financial year,' said Smith. Of the 133 vehicles hijacked in recent months, the City has been able to recover 42. Smith said statistics showed that the urban waste and water and sanitation directorates were most affected, and in most of these incidents, City officials were held at gunpoint. Western Cape police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, said several premises were searched during Wednesday's operation in Lingelethu. Police found three homemade rifles, three homemade handguns, vehicle keys, radios, one silver Renault Duster stolen in Muizenberg in March 2024, a Toyota Quantum engine stolen in Khayelitsha in July 2021, and vehicle wheels. 'A 28-year-old male suspect who was sought on a Lingelethu-West SAPS murder case was arrested,' said Van Wyk. Police said the joint operation was a 'culmination of a few weeks of planning' with the City to prevent carjackings and clampdown on those involved or suspected of being involved in these crimes.
