Highbury Civic Matters

14/12/2025

Every resident of Highbury should have one of these -

Master the art of espaliering fruit trees with 7 simple steps. Perfect for maximizing space and enhancing the beauty of your garden.

17/11/2025

Current status - overgrown with weeds. A reflection of the residents who live in Highbury. The parks department is committed to deliver wood chips to cover the circle. However it would be better if the circle and the embankment is first weeded. Lets endeavour to host a mid summer cleanup on 13 December 2025 - Starting at 6:30 a.m

17/11/2025

What it looked like a year ago - https://www.goodthingsguy.com/environment/uncle-green-thumbs-hailed-for-gorgeous-garden-in-kuils-river/ -

The Kuils River community are applauding 'Uncle Green Thumbs' for the work he’s put in to make a public space look luscious and beautiful!

17/11/2025

Looking for volunteers who are passionate about environmental matters to serve on a steering committee to make the Kuils River District Park a reality - https://www.facebook.com/p/Kuils-River-River-Corridor-Development-100067049983422/?locale=en_GB

Send an email to highbury.civic.matters com with contact details

The City of Cape Town would like to meet to engage on the matter

This page wishes to inform and inspire you about our vision for the development of the Kuils River River corridor. Post your comments questions and suggestions.
Should you feel inspired let us know and how you can contribute

26/10/2025

26/10/2025

Residents are requested to report Park infrastructure vandalism. Refer to TOP Tip at the Bottom of the web page - https://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Report/Report-a-crime/report-vandalism.

Public open spaces (POS) is community property. It be longs to every one. People abutting the park derive benefit from the the lighting on the park - ambiance and security. Any negative incident affects and impacts the whole of Highbury /Park. Lets work together to ensure that we all contribute to making our community desirable and not leave it to just a few disgruntkle ould people to raise service request.

03/07/2025

Sector 1 Community Police sub forum meets every 1st Thursday of the month . Rsidents are encouraged to attend and table any security concerns that they may have.
Become a part of the solution.
To complain about ones safety and that of the hood and not do anything about it is counter productive,
The role of the CFP can be viewed at the following link -https://safecommunity.co.za/community-policing-forums/

15/06/2025

The City of Cape Town intends to lease a portion of Onyx Street Park to a company for the use of erecting a mobile base station. This matter is included on the sub council 14 Agenda

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KkrftCoRidoNHHxdeDUxW4AfNv1IY0mO/view?usp=sharing

What you need to know how 5G telecommunication will impact you and the environment

https://www.greencitytimes.com/how-will-5g-impact-the-environment/ #:~:text=Increasing%205G%20access%20means%20more,existing%20structures%2C%20like%20data%20centers.

Residents are requested to engage the following City of Cape Town officials and insist that your objection to the lease of land for the er****on of a mobile base station.

The public participation process is flawed.

The developer is not an authority on the concerns that the residents raised. There is no conclusive evidence on the benefits and risks of the implementation of 5G cellular rollout.

The examples used to mitigate the loss of property values are not relevent to properties that may be impacted by the proposed er****on of the tower

There is a record of a senior City of Cape Town official who admits that if they do not allow for the land lease, then the developer will not be able to erect the tower. This implication renders any future public participation a mere tick box exercise.

ward 19 councillor
https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/councilhubonline/councillorprofile?councillorid=1142

subcouncil manager
https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/councilhubonline/subcouncilprofile?subcouncilid=14

Subcouncil chair

https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/councilhubonline/councillorprofile?councillorid=1188

Failure of residents to take an interest in civic matters may result in developements that may have a negative impact on property values and generational wealth creation

Find details on your subcouncil, ward, suburd, councillor and more.

15/06/2025

Proposed Cell phone Mast - Onyx Street Park -
Report before sub council - download link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KkrftCoRidoNHHxdeDUxW4AfNv1IY0mO/view?usp=sharing

Residents are encouraged to engage the councillor, sub-council manager and sub-council chair to express their objection to the lease of the land and that their objection be recorded in the record of the meeting. Objections should be lodged before or on Tuesday, 17 june - 15:00 Hrs

Subcouncil chair contact details - https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/councilhubonline/councillorprofile?councillorid=1188

Subcouncil managers' contact details -
https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/councilhubonline/subcouncilprofile?subcouncilid=14

Ward Councillor contact details

https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/councilhubonline/councillorprofile?councillorid=1142

Find details on your subcouncil, ward, suburd, councillor and more.

09/06/2025

Cape Town budget backlash continues https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/cape-town-budget-backlash-continues/

The Cape Town Collective Ratepayers’ Association (CTCRA), which represents 58 affiliated civic bodies, says the revisions do not go far enough.

“Let’s say the city passes the budget this year … next year, they will increase rates again. You cannot come back to the same ratepayers, which are a very narrow base. Where is it going to stop?”

Rod Solomons, convenor of the SA 1st Forum and coordinator of the ‘Pushback Campaign against the city’s proposed tariff increases’, says the city’s amended budget is still far from the lived reality of the majority of long-time residents of Cape Town. “We thus maintain that we should still reject it.

While ratepayer anger spreads to Garden Route over 'meaningless' public participation processes.

04/06/2025

Have your say to the proposed service and utility bills.
Copy and paste the body into an email
Sample Letter of Objection

Dear Mayor of Cape Town

(via e-mail: Budget.Comments@capetown.gov.za and cc. pushbackrates@gmail.com )

COMMENTS/OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSED BUDGET

I hereby object to the new proposed budget for the City of Cape Town as presented by you on 21 May 2025 because of the following:

A. I object to the 4 Fixed charges:
1. Electricity,
2. Water,
3. Sanitation and the
4. Cleaning Charge
Depending on the value of one's property the City adds +/-R300 per month to one's bill. This is not a reduction—it’s a heavy-handed increase dressed up with selective statistics.

B. I strongly object to the 15% VAT which will now be added to the Cleaning Charge. (Previously this was VAT free when included under Property Rates).

C. The Mayor should consider
issuing Municipal Bonds as an alternative source of funding for his ambitious plans instead of placing additional burdens on ratepayers.

D. The service charges should not be linked to Property Values. There is a myopic assumption that household income is somehow directly correlated to property value. This is a false and dangerous premise. Many of us—especially pensioners on fixed incomes—have owned our homes for decades. One worked hard to increase the value of your property and you should not be penalised for it.

Our incomes do not rise alongside the municipality’s aggressive and often arbitrary property re-valuations. It’s simply unfair to assume that a high property valuation equals high disposable income. The City is after all in charge of the valuation of one's property.

D. Depending on the value of one's property your municipal bill will increase by between 4 - 25% in total. This is way above the target inflation rate of 4.5% prescribed by Treasury in MFMA Circular 129. At best, any increases should not exceed the official inflation rate because one's salary or pension increases are many times below the inflation rate.

E. The Lifeline electricity users' increase of 9.8% is rejected and must be brought in line with the general electricity increase of 2% as prescribed by NERSA.

F. I object to the eight (8) items plus VAT one will have to pay on the municipal bill from 1 July 2025. This myriad of charges will make my new be bill very difficult to understand.

G. One definitely objects to the electricity fixed charge which is increased from R245 to R339 (excluding VAT). (This is a 38.7% increase).

I. I object to the NEW R59 fixed charge for the Domestic category of electricity users.

J. I strongly object to the lack of proper and effective interaction with the public about the Budget, especially with civil society groupings. This budget is complex and the officials are absent to provide proper explanations and information on some of our concerns. (The Mayor merely seem to be on a PR campaign in the media to justify his proposals).

K. Furthermore, it appears
that everyone who sent comments about the March Budget, received the same generic reply from the COCT.
One would have expected a personal reply to one's specific questions/ concerns.

The question arises as to whether every comment was carefully considered when changes were made to the initial budget?

L. I object to the Mayor’s resoluteness to fund his ambitious plans instead of him understanding the hardship his plans will bring to many households. The City should operate within its means and not want to be like a Rolls Royce. The City’s messaging is disconnected and at odds from its impact on ordinary Capetonians.

M. You might want to end with a variant of this: " Your approach taken in this budget fails the test of fairness and common sense. The socioeconomic diversity of neighborhoods are not taken into account and residents are treated like variables on a spreadsheet. Lip service is paid to equity and the City of Cape Town is demanding more from those who are already stretched thin, almost like wanting to extract blood from a stone.

I trust that these objections/suggestions will be seriously when the budget gets finalized. After all this is not YOUR money to do as you please with but that of ratepayers.

Yours faithfully

Name....
Address...
Date:......