Build One South Africa on Saturday named its national spokesperson, Roger Solomons, as its mayoral candidate for Cape Town, entering a widening race to challenge the Democratic Alliance’s control of the city in the November local government elections.

Solomons accepted the nomination at an event at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, where he said the 2026 local government elections would be a contest about affordability, inclusion and whether the city’s economic gains were reaching working-class communities.

“The next chapter for Cape Town must be a deliberate shift, from stability to shared progress, where growth, safety and opportunity are experienced across the whole city. Administrative competence and relative stability have been achieved, and that must be acknowledged,” he said.

“But competence alone does not create justice, and stability alone does not create inclusion. I am not stepping up to lead Cape Town because I believe

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DA federal leader and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has told South Africans not to turn anger over unemployment, crime and failing public services into violence against foreign nationals, saying the country’s real crisis is a weak economy and a broken state.

“South Africa’s deepest problem is not a vulnerable person selling vegetables on a corner who happens to not be born here,” Hill-Lewis said in an address on Thursday night.

“It is an economy that does not grow, a state that does not work, and a government that has failed to create jobs, secure our borders, fight crime and deliver basic services.”

His remarks come as South Africa is bracing for protest action on 30 June by anti-illegal-immigration groups, including March and March, which have set that date as a “deadline” for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country.

March and March has denied calling for

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Cape Town has invited small businesses in the clothing, textile, footwear and leather sector to participate in its ‘Origin8: From Start-up to Scale-up’ programme.

It is designed by the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster (CTCC) and funded by the city.

“The city is proud to partner with the CCTC on the Origin8 programme. Through this collaboration, we are committed to helping these businesses on their journey to showcase their potential and scaling their business,” said economic committee MMC Alderman James Vos.

The programme is the first of its kind and aims to expose SMEs to major national retailer requirements. It will help them bridge the gaps that exist in their business to better align with industry standards and customer expectations

CCTC chief facilitator Courtney Barnes emphasised the importance of the cluster’s commitment to enhancing the Western Cape’s clothing, textile, footwear and leather industries. 

“As retailers look to

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Commuters using Cape Town’s MyCiTi bus services will pay lower fares from the beginning of next month.

The adjustment was made following a decrease in diesel prices for three consecutive months.

The reduction means the operating costs for the MyCiTi bus service have decreased over the same period, according to Cape Town urban mobility MMC Rob Quintas.

“We welcome this fare reduction during these harsh economic times as every cent counts,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

The MyCiTi fares make provision for changes during the financial year based on significant changes to the cost of diesel.

“This helps protect passengers from paying too much if the cost of diesel is reduced and protects the city from ongoing losses if the cost of diesel continues to increase significantly,’ he said.

The sizeable cuts are due to a stronger rand and stable global oil prices boosting over-recoveries

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The City of Cape Town has thousands of title deeds that need to be delivered to qualifying residents, according to human settlements MMC Carl Pophaim.

He handed over some of the 12,000 title deeds to residents in Leonsdale on Sunday and would visit more communities over the coming week.

“The city’s mission of empowering residents is bearing fruit and we remain committed to helping as many residents as possible with our innovative title deeds programme,” Pophaim said in a statement on Monday.

“Our teams have been working hard and we are looking forward to empowering many more beneficiaries. This week we handed over title deeds in Leonsdale and in the coming weeks, we will be in Samora Machel, Delft and other areas.”

He encouraged beneficiaries without title deeds to visit the human settlements kiosk at the Cape Town Civic Centre to enquire about the status of their

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Cape Town’s Department of Water and Sanitation has confirmed the recent proactive maintenance along the Cape Flats network is nearing completion.

Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation Zahid Badroodien said on Wednesday that the city’s planned three day maintenance which started from Monday until midnight on Wednesday, had left many without water.

“We are in the final stretches of our 72-hour proactive maintenance along the Cape Flats network and our teams made excellent progress. Four out of six valves have been replaced,” he said.

Badroodien said 22 areas were affected, including Diep River, Lavender Hill and Pelican Park; but was necessary to ensure the sustainable condition of the pipe infrastructure going forward.

“This shutdown is necessary so that crucial maintenance work can be done safely on an important section of our water supply network which includes replacing faulty valves,” he said.

The MMC said the department regretted

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City of Cape Town to invest R120 billion in infrastructure over the next ten years.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the city will invest R120 billion in the next ten years to improve infrastructure across the metro, when tabling the metro’s infrastructure report on Thursday during a council meeting adding that 73% of the R11 billion infrastructure budget for the 2024 financial year is expected to be spent on lower-income communities as well as informal settlements.

Hill-Lewis said the multi-billion rand upgrades to the wastewater works were on track in order to reduce sewage spills, especially in poor communities.

“By quadrupling our sewer plant replacement targets to 100km annually. Increasing pump station-related projects with an increase of 330% over this budget cycle for pump station expenditure and upgrades. 

“Also, the bulk sewer upgrades that are taking place around the city in Milnerton, Gordon’s Bay, Philippi, and

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THE Western Cape EFF’s planned shutdown is set to kick off on Monday against the impoundment of taxis by the City of Cape Town, despite the party going at it alone.

WC EFF spokesperson Wandile Kasibe said that the party would go ahead with the planned shutdown of the province, despite the sudden withdrawal of various other organisations at the last minute.

“The most important thing here is the issues our people are dealing with. Whether you call it a shutdown, march, protest, or strike, [that] is not the issue. It’s the violence, taxi impoundments, gangsterism, load shedding and unemployment that is [an issue],” Kasibe explained.

The provincial ANC, Santaco and the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) on Sunday canceled their participation in the protest, claiming problems in communication from the EFF and distancing themselves from any “strike” or “shutdown”

ANC provincial spokesperson Muhammad Khalid Sayed said the

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Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that the city’s lawyers are preparing legal proceedings to force the national government to hand over its rail network responsibilities to the country’s metros.

Earlier this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to broad consultations taking place ‘behind the scenes’ with metros about the rail takeover strategy.

However, the DA mayor refuted this, saying the city has been attempting to secure a meeting with the national government concerning the rail network devolution throughout the year but to no avail.

The mayor said that the city is preparing to initiate an intergovernmental dispute against the national government over the inadequate communication between the two spheres of the state.

Hill-Lewis said that he was heartened at the president’s confirmation of the cabinet decision in 2022 regarding the devolution, but that he was of the opinion that the president was unaware of what was actually happening.

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THE Western Cape High court on Sunday granted an interim interdict against the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), preventing taxi operators from intimidating and interfering with Golden Arrow bus drivers while the taxi strike is underway.

Chairman of the Golden Bus Services chairperson Yunis Shaik, said since the stay-away began, the company had lost six buses, each worth millions, due to arson attacks.

“We are very pleased that the judge approved the order, in which he expressly states the taxi association is to stop intimidating, harassing and destroying the property of Golden Arrow or hurting its employees,” Shaik said.

The judge found that the taxi strikers had a knock on effect on the surrounding economy with disruptions of transport. 

The order applies to Santaco and its affiliates namely; the Cape Organisation of Democratic Taxi Association, Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association, Boland Taxi Association, Greater Cape Town Taxi Association, Mitchells

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