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We’re fighting for Spatial, Social, Economic & Environmental Justice in South Africa 🇿🇦
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*CAPE TOWN’S BUDGET SHUFFLE: LAST CHANCE TO SPEAK UP* By *Anton Louw*, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor With a week to go until the Cape Town Council votes on the draft budget, all signs point to it being pushed through by the DA majority. The only hope residents have of avoiding the burden of these new, steep tariffs is if DA ward councillors choose to listen to their communities and not simply toe the party line. The City of Cape Town has stated that its proposed City-wide Cleansing Tariff is part of a broader Trading Services Reform Programme, led by National Treasury, aimed at improving the management and performance of trading services - specifically water and sanitation, electricity, and solid waste. However, the City appears to be hiding behind this national initiative to prop up its dwindling electricity revenue, quietly shifting the financial burden onto residents through a new tariff. The City has pegged the new cleansing tariff to property values, a deeply flawed and regressive approach, especially in a city where property prices have skyrocketed by 141% since 2010, according to Stats SA’s 2023 Residential Property Price Index. By linking service charges to property value instead of actual usage, the City is stripping struggling households of any meaningful ability to manage or reduce their utility costs. In the City’s own Annexures on Tariffs, the new Cleansing Tariff is justified under the “polluter pays” principle, the idea that all waste generators should bear the cost of waste management. Yet, in the same document, the City admits it cannot accurately measure individual waste usage, and so it has chosen to link the tariff to property value. This approach is both arbitrary and punitive. It assumes, without evidence, that larger homes automatically produce more waste, ignoring the actual number of residents or their waste habits. Not to mention, the tariff isn't even based on refuse generated at individual homes. It’s meant to fund shared services like beach cleaning, street sweeping, and drop-off facilities. Meanwhile, the existing refuse charge, which is based on the number of bins per property, still remains on residents’ rates bills, making this new tariff feel less like a fair distribution of “polluter pays” and more like a double charge. In 2024/25, the City of Cape Town is projecting a profit of R5.586 billion from electricity sales, what it refers to as a "contribution to rates." Now, the City claims to have shifted this contribution to the new Cleaning Tariff, yet it still expects to rake in R4.7 billion in profit from electricity sales this year alone. Add to that the R2.45 billion anticipated from the new Cleansing Levy, and the so-called "contribution to rates" jumps to a staggering R7.15 billion. Meanwhile, Cape Town residents are facing an average 22.6% increase in their municipal bills, with no improvement in basic services. All the City has done is shuffle the numbers on your rates bill, without delivering the relief or accountability it promised.
*TAFELBERG SCHOOL SITE DESIGN CONCEPTS: A MOMENT OF HOPE* By *Brett Herron*, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament Last night, consultants for the Western Cape Government presented initial design concepts for the redevelopment of a site many of us know as the Tafelberg School site in Sea Point, although it’s now been quietly renamed “353-on-Main.” The name change might suggest a wish to move past the conflict and controversy tied to this land, a public site once earmarked for sale to private developers, despite the city’s urgent inner-city affordable housing crisis. But let’s focus on what matters most: this presentation marked a tentative, but important, moment of hope. The Western Cape Government has now shown a willingness to rethink its approach. All three design concepts presented include social housing. That’s progress. • Concept one included 63 social housing units, 71 affordable housing units and 163 high-end housing units. • Concept two increases this to 121 social housing units, 131 affordable housing units and 163 high-end housing units. • Concept three, the most ambitious, offers 122 social housing units, plus 156 affordable units and 293 high-end homes. Each concept includes green public spaces and shops along Main Road, signalling an integrated, mixed-use development. We welcome this change of heart. The commitment to include mixed-income housing and public amenities is a step toward a more inclusive city. But there’s still a way to go. We urge the Western Cape Government to use this design process to maximise the provision of social and affordable housing, in line with the real, growing demand. We also call for a transparent, inclusive process with no more u-turns or unnecessary delays. Let this moment be the start, not a pause, in Cape Town’s long-overdue journey toward spatial and social justice. Let’s get it done, and let’s get it done right.
*CRIME STATS REVEAL TRUTH BEHIND CAPE TOWN’S CRIME SPIN* By *Jonathan Cupido*, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor & Caucus Whip Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the justice system is “broken.” But the real breakdown is in the City of Cape Town’s policing priorities and its obsession with spin over substance. The City’s statement, citing only a 5% conviction rate for illegal firearms seized, is not only misleading but exposes the core failure of its own Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) on which hundreds of millions has been spent, thousands of boots deployed, and yet, crime stats show a city still ravaged by violence. A review of all four quarters of 2024–2025 Crime stats, the data clearly shows overall violence remains entrenched, proving that simply confiscating guns doesn't disrupt the criminal systems that keep replenishing them. The City of Cape Town remains a national crime hotspot despite its claims of progress. With Delft, Mfuleni, Nyanga and Phillipi East once again filling 4 out of the 5 top spots for the most murders reported in the final quarter of the year. Despite deploying over 1,200 LEAP officers and spending R800 million on tech, communities in the Cape Flats are still gripped by fear. The fact that nearly half of gun cases (49.5%) handed to SAPS by the City were deemed unprosecutable due to poor quality evidence, is not a SAPS failure alone, it is a failure to prepare proper dockets, gather compelling evidence, and maintain reliable chains of custody. But the City is now using this to demand the devolution of investigative powers. Shifting the blame from their own incompetencies to make the crime problem a national failure. We repeat our demand for a comprehensive cost-benefit review of the LEAP programme. Cape Town deserves safety and transparency, not more politics dressed up as policing. It is time for real investment in community-rooted crime prevention, youth programmes, addiction services, and job creation. Until then, the idea that confiscating 400 guns a year amounts to progress is nothing more than political theatre. Because for every gun taken, a new one replaces it, and the violence continues. The only thing we agree with the mayor on is that “No Capetonian should live in daily fear of crime in their neighbourhood“
*PUBLIC PRESSURE WINS PAUSE ON CAPE TOWN BUDGET VOTE* By *Suzette Little*, GOOD Deputy Secretary-General & Cape Town Caucus Chairperson Cape Town residents have secured a critical democratic win. Following sustained public pressure, petitions, and widespread calls for greater transparency, the City of Cape Town has confirmed it will delay the Budget Vote to allow for a further round of public input on the amended 2025/26 municipal budget. This extension is not merely a procedural adjustment, it is a direct response to Capetonians demanding to be heard on the issues that impact their monthly bills, service delivery, and the future of their communities. The City will now table changes to the budget at a full sitting of Council on Wednesday, 28 May 2025, opening a fresh public comment window from 28 May to 13 June. Residents have won more time to scrutinise and shape a budget that directly affects their lives. The GOOD Party and other civic voices have consistently warned that the City’s proposed Cleansing Tariff, linked arbitrarily to property values, would unfairly burden households already stretched by rising costs. Despite the City claiming its budget included “the widest social relief net of any South African city,” its proposals initially failed to reflect the lived realities of many Cape Town residents. Key public concerns included: * A lack of transparency in how costs were shifted between budget line items, particularly the movement of revenue from electricity tariffs to a new Cleansing Charge. * Above-inflation increases in rates and tariffs * The decision to link service charges to property value rather than actual usage, removing any real ability for struggling households to control or reduce their monthly utility bills. * Inadequate engagement on meaningful alternatives to revenue generation. While the City has since announced some concessions, including raising the pensioner rebate threshold and adjusting the cleaning tariff band, these changes only underscore the importance of public participation. Residents have a legal and constitutional right to weigh in on substantive budget amendments, especially when those changes directly impact household finances. This is not the end of the fight, it’s a new beginning. We urge every Capetonian to use this extended window to study the changes, ask the tough questions, and make their voices count. Let’s make this more than a technical compliance exercise. Let’s make it a real conversation about fairness, equity, and smart spending in Cape Town.
🚛 *Animals have more rights than farmworkers!* In the Western Cape, pigs are transported with more care than people - non-slip floors, sun protection, space limits. Farmworkers? None of that. 📸 Today in the WC Legislature, GOOD’s Brett Herron tabled photos of overloaded trucks near Robertson, a daily reality across farming towns. How many more must die before action is taken? Read more in the latest *Waarheid!*
🎥*[WATCH]* *Is the Western Cape finally getting serious about inner-city housing?* 🏙️ GOOD Secretary-General Brett Herron spoke in the Western Cape Legislature following the presentation of three new design concepts for the old Tafelberg School site, now called 353-on-Main. Each proposal includes social housing. 🔹 Concept 1: 63 social, 71 affordable, 163 high-end 🔹 Concept 2: 121 social, 131 affordable, 163 high-end 🔹 Concept 3: 122 social, 156 affordable, 293 high-end Mixed-use. Mixed-income. Public space. A step forward. But we need more. More social housing. More transparency. No more delays.
*SOUTH AFRICA’S MURDER CRISIS: THE NUMBERS ARE REAL, THE GENOCIDE CLAIMS ARE NOT* By *Brett Herron*, GOOD Secretary-General The latest crime statistics, released today, close the chapter on South Africa’s 2024/2025 financial year and they paint a devastating picture. A staggering 25,423 people were murdered in just 12 months. That’s an average of 69 lives lost every single day. These are not just numbers, they are lives cut short, families shattered, communities terrorised. No spin, no minor percentage shift can obscure the scale of this tragedy. Among the many revelations in the data, one critical point stands out - the truth behind the “white genocide” myth. Of the 25,423 murders recorded nationwide, just 358 took place on agricultural land, including farms, plots, and small holdings. Only 42 of these involved individuals classified as part of the farming community, currently limited to commercial farms. In response to persistent disinformation, the statistics for the fourth quarter were further broken down by race. Of the farm owners murdered during this period, both were African. Additionally, the two farm employees and one farm manager killed were also African. Of the six individuals classified as part of the farming community during this quarter, only one, a farm dweller, was white. Let us be clear, no murder is acceptable. Every life matters. But to claim that there is a deliberate campaign targeting white South Africans farmers amounts to a dangerous distortion of reality. The definition of genocide is the deliberate extermination of a national, racial, or ethnic group. The data simply does not support that narrative. We must stand against crime in all its forms, and we must also stand against disinformation that sows division, fuels fear, and distracts from the real, collective challenges we face.
*MURDER HAS A FAVOURITE PLAYGROUND AND THE GANGS ARE IN CHARGE* By *Brett Herron,* GOOD Secretary-General The numbers tell a grim story, 25,423 people lost their lives in South Africa between April 2024 and March 2025. This is a tragedy, one that policymakers can’t spin, downplay, or hide behind minor percentage decreases. In the Western Cape, where the province has robbed the education and healthcare budgets to fund a safety plan, a chilling 4,467 murders were recorded in the 2024/2025 financial year. And although this is a decrease of 1.7% from the previous financial year, it is the second-highest annual toll in the past six years. Any celebration over a marginal decrease is not just premature, it’s deeply offensive to the communities still mourning. In Philippi East, 231 people were murdered this past year, the highest number recorded there in six years. Kraaifontein has seen a similar spike with 216 murders compared to last year’s 165 murders. These aren’t isolated flare-ups. They’re symptoms of a much deeper crisis, the grip of gang violence on the province. Gang-related murders are not a footnote; they are the headline. In just the last quarter alone, 208 lives were claimed by gang activity. Over the full financial year, that number rose to 882 gang-related killings in the Western Cape. To put this in context: of the 1,025 gang-related murders reported nationally, 86% happened in one province. The Western Cape is home to less than 12% of the country’s population (according to the 2022 Census), yet it bears the weight of nearly nine in ten gang murders in South Africa. This is not just a crime problem. It’s a policy failure. It’s a collapse of prevention, intervention, and protection. For years, Premier Alan Winde has claimed the brilliant “Western Cape Safety Plan” will halve the murder rate in ten years. Well six years into the plan that has already cost Billions and we see an average year-on-year murder increase of 2.48%. The Western Cape’s communities, especially on the Cape Flats, are being left to bleed out. Homes are turning into conflict zones. Children grow up to the sound of gunfire, not lullabies. Parents worry more about stray bullets than school fees. We must start to call this what it is - a war. And the state is either losing it, or not truly fighting it. The province has a murder problem. But even more urgently, it has a gang murder problem. And when murder has a favourite face, when it is so consistently racialised, spatialized, and ignored, it becomes clear that this crisis is no accident. It is a result of decades of neglect, spatial injustice, and failed governance. Until we address the root causes, poverty, unemployment, broken education systems, housing precarity, and the deep legacies of apartheid spatial planning, we will be here again next year. Mourning more names and digging more graves. Murder has a favourite face in the Western Cape. And unless we act, that face will keep looking younger.
🎥 *[WATCH]* ‘Would our bubblies taste as glorious to visitors if they knew that the people who produce them are treated worse than pigs?’🥂 GOOD Secretary-General & Western Cape MPL Brett Herron exposes the inhumane, dangerous transport conditions faced daily by tens of thousands of farmworkers in the Western Cape.
*RUPERT SPOKE THE TRUTH: CRIME IN THE WESTERN CAPE CAN’T BE DENIED ANYMORE* By *Brett Herron*, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament “The crime is terrible Sir, but Mr. Steenhuisen won’t admit it. He runs the Western Cape, where I live, and the highest murder rate is in the Cape Flats.” These were the words spoken last night by billionaire Johan Rupert during the Trump Ramaphosa media engagement. And while Rupert may not always be the voice of the South African people, this time, he gave voice to something millions already know - the crime crisis in the Western Cape is not only real, it’s worsening. Rupert’s comment is already stirring debate, but what’s more significant is the timing. His remarks come as the final quarter of the 2024/2025 crime statistics will be released tomorrow, Friday 23 May. These stats are expected to confirm a trend we’ve seen for years now - murder, especially in working-class and poor communities like the Cape Flats, continues to rise. Children are growing up learning the sound of gunfire before the alphabet. The Democratic Alliance, led by John Steenhuisen, has governed the Western Cape for over a decade. They are not new to power. They run this province with confidence, and they often hold it up as a model of good governance. And yet, under their watch, the murder rate has not been halved, as promised, but has in many areas worsened. Billions of rands have been poured into the Western Cape Safety Plan, a flagship project that pledged to tackle crime at its roots. But there has yet to be a return on investment. Instead, we hear the passing bell for communities that are still burying their sons and daughters every weekend. Rupert’s comments, whether calculated or candid, create the perfect backdrop for tomorrow’s crime stats. They cut through the spin, the PR gloss, and the talking points. Because what he said, “the crime is terrible”, isn’t partisan. It’s painfully real. If Steenhuisen and the DA want to lead, they must start by owning the reality on the ground. The people of the Cape Flats deserve more than excuses. They deserve safety, justice, and a future free from violence.
