Know your DA DVD screening

Members enthusiastically discussing the DVD

Last night’s screening (Thurs 18 July) at The Marian Institute of the KNOW YOUR DA DVD was a great success, over 20 members got together despite the rain and cold to watch and discuss the DVD; meander down memory lane; and mingle and chat to each other as we build toward the 2014 Elections.

The story of the Democratic Alliance, is a 12 minute video, which has put the the ANC into a tizz because it tells the story of the struggle against apartheid as being one which was fought on many fronts, and one in which many people played their part.  And while all the history books reflect the roles of the liberation movements in the struggle for freedom, there is another part of this story that remains largely untold.  It is a story that some have tried to change, or even erase entirely from history. It is the story of the Democratic Alliance.

The “Know Your DA” campaign was launched over two months ago. 800,000 pamphlets have been distributed, and nearly 300,000 South Africans have seen the DVD in their homes.  It will also be available in nine languages.

Helen Zille said in a press release that:

“For too long we have allowed our political opponents to define us. To counter this deception we  must reclaim our history. We must ensure that we never lose sight of the golden thread that connects our past, present and future: the fight against apartheid and its legacy of poverty, unemployment and inequality.”

Rates rebates clinics

Ward 57 will be holding four rates rebates clinics around the ward on:

• 27 July – St Lukes Church in Salt River,
• 3 August – Constituency office in Observatory,
• 17 August – Vredehoek Library, and
• 24 August – Marion Institute District 6.

All clinics will be held from 10h00 to 13h00.

Broadly the rebates, grants and other relief measures are as follows:
Residents with properties valued at less than R400 000, and households with a gross monthly household income of R3 000 or less are entitled to free basic services. Households with incomes between R3 500 and R4 000 qualify for a 75% rebate; those with incomes between R4 000 and R4 500 qualify for a 50% rebate; while those with an income of between R4 500 and R5 000 qualify for a 25% rebate.

Senior citizens qualify for rates rebates where gross monthly household income is less than R12 000, while the city also grants Indigent assistance  to all households with a gross monthly income of R3 500 or less of a 100% rates rebate, an additional 4,5 kl of water, and a 240 l refuse bin.

Residents who think they qualify must bring their ID books, a rates account and three months bank statements as proof of their income.

World Design Capital

The Waterfront Clock Tower painted in yellow and black

This week saw over twenty of us attending a presentation by Richard Perez at the Armchair Lounge in Observatory, on What the World Design Capital means for and how it will benefit Cape Town.   Richard is the director of the City’s World Design Capital (WDC) Department.  In a wide ranging presentation he highlighted what an outstanding achievement it is for Cape Town to have been selected as it puts the city on the world stage. Our winning bid concept and the central overarching theme of LIVE DESIGN.TRANSFORM LIFE. focused on using socially responsive design to transform the city into one of the most inclusive, sustainable, liveable and productive cities on the continent.

Within this theme, four sub-themes have been developed to bring clarity and simplicity to the process of submission and curatorship of proposals.  The themes are:

African Innovation. Global Conversation – African ideas that speak to the world

Bridging The Divide – Design that reconnects our city and reconciles our communities

Today For Tomorrow – Sustainable solutions for people and planet

Beautiful Spaces. Beautiful Things – Inspiring architecture, interiors, food, fashion, jewellery, craft, art and creativity

Richard brought our attention to the fact that design in the context of WDC goes beyond merely producing a beautiful object.  Its value lies in the process which the maker went through in creating the object .  It is this “design thinking” process which needs to be harnessed and brought to bear in solving the complex challenges of housing, sanitation and urbanisation which Cape Town faces.    The City is going to be engaging with residents in identifying a number of City directorate and ward projects.  Once such projects have been identified – like a public park upgrade or the solving of traffic problems the team will host workshops involving the community, the line department which will be implementing the solution and designers in using the design process to reach a practical result.

For those of you wondering what has happened to the Clock Tower at the Waterfront, it has been painted in yellow and black, the colours of World Design Capital.

Read more on www.wdccapetown2014.com/

2014 Election

National and Provincial elections are due in a year. The DA must further strengthen its share of national vote. A result that raises the DA share will increase accountability to the electorate. For the DA share to grow, high turnout and new voter numbers are required. Further, those tired of the incumbent party (in power for 20 years) have to send a clear message by voting for the DA.  Splitting the vote or not voting is not enough, a clear message must be driven home.

Equally, the DA has to continue to demonstrate, daily and repeatedly, that the party is accountable, transparent, delivers services effectively, and cares about the lives of every South African.

Picturing our past

Two centuries of Ward 57 overlaid

Last night David Hart of the City Council’s Environmental Resource Management Branch gave a fascinating talk on the history of Woodstock.  As his presentation progressed, he peeled away the layers of our past.  Old paintings, photographs, drawings and maps graphically illustrated over two  hundred years of Woodstock history as the suburb grew and developed in its dramatic setting from a windswept collection of estates and farm houses to the (still windswept) suburb it is today.

By cleverly overlaying early drawings and maps from the eighteen hundreds with current map surveys, we saw first a spider web of roads, and railway lines appear, then houses, buildings, and factories grow dense between the interstices in spurts and lulls of activity, leaving the old homesteads of the three bloeme – Zonnebloem (now Zonnebloem College); Leliebloem and Roodebloem a bit overwhelmed.

Woodstock has a unique, multifaceted and dramatic history.  Before the land was reclaimed from the sea in the 1950s, ships were always at the mercy of the gales which lashed Table Bay.  One of his pictures, taken of the Great Storm of 1822 shows a clipper sailing ship and numerous others in the background stranded high on Woodstock beach, surrounded by flotsam and jetsam, as a few people stroll around it.

Other maps and diagrams illustrate initial attempts at racially classifying areas of the suburb, while aerial and official photographs of District 6 starkly evidence the eventual devastation at all levels which followed.  His last photograph is of children running into the surf on Woodstock beach.

Picturing the past