Cape Policy Foundation - CPF

07/03/2024

National Government's mid-term slashing of spending will negatively affect direct service delivery and adversely harm the growth and development of the Western Cape Province.

I welcome the 2024/25 Budget Speech delivered by the Western Cape Minister of Finance & Economic Opportunities, Minister Mireille Wenger today. 💰

We're allocating:

- R182 billion for healthcare, education and social services;

- R45 billion for job creation;

- R5 billion for a safer future; and

- R32 billion on infrastructure our economy needs to succeed.

This is a Budget to Keep Building a Western Cape That Works For All - caring for the vulnerable now and building for our future. 🙏🇿🇦

WATCH FULL SPEECH: https://tinyurl.com/ye2a2mw7

21/02/2023

Dam levels in the Western Cape have reportedly dropped below 50-percent, raising a possibility of the implementation of pre-emptive water restrictions. It comes as most dams are overflowing nationwide following heavy rainfall. However, the Western Cape has not experienced as much rainfall during its winter rainy- season last year. Local Government Minister, Anton Bredell says: "We actually don't know if it's going to be a wet or a dry winter. So, we need to talk to our citizens, beginning with the municipalities, reusing water harvesting of rain water, and looking at water as a scarce and valuable resource. That is how we are going to pull through. We have to talk to municipalities to start with level one but we'll begin our communication campaign."

(artwork: waterlogic australia)

22/12/2022

The CEO of Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital has chosen to draw attention to a particular issue by writing a Ph.D. thesis. The focus of Bhavna Patel's thesis is on how a hospital's executive leaders were better able to perform their jobs thanks to an in-house leadership development program. Next year, Patel will mark her tenth anniversary as the hospital's CEO. She began her employment there as a medical manager before moving up to become the operations head. Patel claims that Covid-19 has taught them to adapt and make the best use of their available resources.

Photo: www.gsh.co.za

21/12/2022

To attach to the water problems of the Karoo which are currently being experienced, Water-shedding in 2023 will be quite a strong possibility particularly with the increase in migration to the Cape Town; along with the exponential increase in so-called "water-points"; i.e. points where water leaving the system.

Living without electricity is one thing - but living without water is certain doom.

Let’s all be water wise this summer and during high stages of load-shedding.

The City has proactively set a maximum limit for our collective water use to be no more than 850 million litres per day. This will help maintain the supply during prolonged higher stages of load-shedding, which is affecting water supply operations. The limit is also so we can keep our dams and reservoirs fuller for longer. Cape Town’s latest dam levels stand at 72,2%. See: https://bit.ly/3j4fEga and https://bit.ly/3PiqJpE

Residents are reminded that permanent regulations limiting water use apply at all times. The current risk for water restrictions is low, and the City will continue to monitor rainfall patterns. See www.capetown.gov.za/savewater

21/12/2022

Water Shortages Slamming the Western Cape - It will only get worse, as these problems were indeed foreseen over 20 years ago now - yet tragically, there has been little political will to address this problem.

A group of concerned residents in Beaufort-West in the Little Karoo have appealed to South Africans to drop off bottled water in the town when passing through. Low dam figures coupled with loadshedding are affecting reservoirs pumping water to the town. In the past few years, similar campaigns were launched for water which were successfully distributed to residents. The Beaufort West Municipality currently had no water trucks which can assist in distributing water. Marlene Hendricks, the spokesperson for the residents, have asked traveller's to drop off water at garages in the town:

"What we've been trying to do is mobilise water from outside the town to make sure that community members have water when it's loadshedding. At times water is off for almost 12 hours. Two weeks ago we had no water and areas were affected for 4 days. We had to mobilise the water truck of the Central Karoo District Municipality to assist us to give water to the people."

04/11/2022

'n Skrywe en foto deur Henry Meyer, AWK Streeksbestuurder:

Die gewag oppie plaas

Die boer wag die hele winter om kanola plat te sny. Nou lê die kanola en wag vir die son om hulle droog te bak. Die stroper staan en wag in die skuur om die droë kanola te oes. Die silo staan agter die stoor en wag om die kanola te ontvang. Die fabriek wag vir die nuwe seisoen se kanola om nuwe olie te pers. Intussen wag die koöperasie se kredietbestuurder dat die oes kan klaarkom sodat hy die boer se rekening kan finaliseer.

Ek sê jou, dis 'n gewag hoor...

04/11/2022

24/10/2022

Hydrogen fuel cells can generate power and provide heating in a wide range of industrial, agricultural, commercial, and residential applications. When hydrogen is produced using renewable energy sources, such as solar power, it is called green hydrogen. One African country poised to become a major producer of green hydrogen is Namibia ... where we just happen to have a solar academy ... so that you can learn more about the PV technology driving the next energy revolution. Our next 5-day solar installer training will be held in Otjiwarongo from 7 to 11 November. Cost is N$12500 pp. Register online at https://lnkd.in/e7wK8fv or contact GREEN Solar Academy Namibia on +264 (0) 81 318 9085 or +264817124429 or [email protected]

24/10/2022

Make use of the Government Funded education programmes to further yourself:

The Contractor Development Programme (CDP) is part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) , and aims to develop skills and promote business sustainability for emerging

21/10/2022

The newly assented Western Cape Biodiversity Act provides improved framework legislation to govern biodiversity in the province and CapeNature’s nature conservation mandate. The Act will be implemented in phases and certain sections will be effected with Regulations, aligned with national and biodiversity conservation legislation and policies, whilst tailoring to the specific biodiversity conservation requirements of the Western Cape. The Nature Conservation Ordinance of 1974 will stay in effect until replaced by Regulations.

CapeNature embraces technology and innovation to facilitate effective strategic management and communication. The entity rolled out the pilot phase of the Conservation Management System (CMSi) – a centralised Conservation Management Software that enables strategic adaptive management for conservation.
CMSi harnesses Geographic Information System (GIS) and database technology in a single tool that will serve as the primary warehouse for all data related to reserve management and biodiversity.

Revenue generated from eco-tourism activities saw a significant rebound post the relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown regulations, with the entity generating nearly R51 million, which is higher than pre-COVID-19 performance.

The 2021-2022 Annual Report of CapeNature will be deliberated by the SC on Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning today. View the Annual Report here: bit.ly/3Tn3T1p

21/10/2022

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/big-tech-goes-war

What a State of Conflict is today, is becoming a very tumultuous set of affairs. The slow non-separation of Techno-Industrial Corporation working with Government Officials and Departments - a grand swathe of obligatory interdependent money obligation.

This State of Affairs where the Private is Dependent on the money supply of the Public and the Public is Dependent on the Skill of the Private - the current State of Economic Depression will only increase this codependency and move actors into greater consolidation and collusion in the swamp of today's governmental party-bureaucratic slugpool - it is where food is that money swaps hands; it is in this space that policy against The Citizenry is constituted. For as long as this space is allowed to remain open, it should be then considered thusly - 'as Hoog Verraad'.