What do they do?

So Souls for Souls is a school shoe campaign.

So we try and raise funds for school shoes.

You know, kids across the province and other neighboring provinces here with the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape.

And as an ambassador, I run marathons and half marathons and I reach out to businesses and individuals to who would like to sponsor a pair of school shoes for every kilometer that I run.

And this pair would only cost you about 90 bucks.

And the reason Africa why this is so important is because we've seen that kids would not necessarily attend school if they don't have a pair of school shoes we've just recently been to the eastern cape uh where we had a small farming school where we offered them about 80 pairs of school shoes and all of these shoes were broken and just to see the smiles on their faces was well worth it all the pain and agony for all the ambassadors to um to run those kilometers to get sponsors to fear sort of shoot the kids feet

And if you are walking in those broken shoes, you are exposing your precious little feet to all sorts of danger, depending on the terrain that you're walking over.

Why?

Nesta, good morning.

I think definitely it's a consequence of a well-run city.

Cape Town is a desirable place to stay, to live and to invest.

And what we've seen is when people invest in a city, market prices go up, rental goes up.

And of course, we will never regulate sort of rental market.

What we will do is we'll focus on what we are primarily responsible for.

um of of of budgets we can talk about issues of the municipal planning tribunal which is under your mandate as a maker member for spatial planning generally residents of the of of the city feel the city rise roughshod over over them even when they make public participation submissions

But I'm sure you're going to draw our attention to the ones right here in the city and what is available there to explore today.

I think also for us in the city, we have a park within a city and a city within a park.

And we do have sand parks at managing the park up in the mountain and all the plant and animal species that you'd find there.

The city, we also have about 28 nature reserves.

These are proclaimed areas.

that we are protecting for generations to come.

And I think that is important.

And what you're seeking to preserve there, because all of them are unique, are they not?

road infrastructure that can match the number of new developments that are proposed for that area, Eddie?

That's a very important point.

I think it's a perception that the public generally have.

And what we've done is we've, I've asked the question often when I attend all of these ratepayers meetings, would the ordinary person understand what is traffic congestion? Would it be 10 cars per hour, 100 cars an hour, or 1,000 cars per hour? Or would it be when your neighbor blocks your driveway? And what we've done in the city of Cape Town, we've established the city spatial planning collective where we have civic structures and ordinary persons We took them through a series of workshops for them to understand when we talk about sort of development in the city and what is appropriate, the question that they often are asking us, how are you applying your mind, City of Cape Town? What comfort are you offering me so I know that you're making decisions in my best interest? So, of course, there's a base zoning on each of the properties.

and every property owner has the right to access that sort of base zoning.

But what is important for us as the regulator, that we do so in a responsible manner.

The fact that Cape Town is a desirable city to stay in, to invest in, and to visit quite often, we accept that is what makes Cape Town desirable.

Thank

Very simply put, can you simply convert a garage into a bedroom or a living space? Does it require approval from the city?

Lester, good morning.

Yes, it unfortunately does require permission from council, and I intentionally use the word unfortunately, because precisely the context that you just sort of painted now for us, and rightly so, affordability is an issue, and I have two children, or three children rather, and I didn't know if they were able to afford a home one day.

And I do ask the question, how would I be able to assist them with accommodation? I do have the option of a second and a third dwelling on my property, or I may just convert my garage.

And what I am actually looking at is the data in terms of, you know, how many of the children would relocate to the family home.

And if we should not look at this differently, and so in the sense that consent would not be required.

But I want to circle back as to why consent is required, because Often when a garage is built, you would only have a garage door and a small window.

Some would argue now, Eddie, that if the city does admit that we do have a housing demand or supply crisis, we do have a rental price crisis, why is the city making it more difficult for people simply just to provide their loved ones with a place to stay by converting a garage space into a living space? Now we're going through all forms of red tape and approval just to have people find a comfortable place to live.

Number three, just your

thoughts on that front row by itself.

I think we definitely, the strategy here is to beat them into submission without a doubt.

Because if you look at Volko, Malcolm and Ox, but then also spare a thought for the bench.

You've got Jan Hendrik van Wessels, Harald Steenekamp and young Zach Paulson who are just as strong, mobile and can't wait for an opportunity.

I do think against all Blacks this will be physical without a doubt.

I think it on the attack will be decisive with Sasha as well.

Just your thoughts on that combination, 19, Grant and Sasha.

Given the fact that it's rocks, it's railway line, a lot of houses, and then main road pavement, where might the path go?

John, of course, that will still need to be assessed, but I don't know if you've recently been to the Cable Carway.

What I saw recently when I was there, that they have the pedestrian walkway literally on the side of the mountains.

So this wooden sort of structure that they've recently installed, I would assume, and it's an opportunity for the users to walk there and not sort of in the road.

And then there's the pavement as well.

The additional capacity has now been created.

So the engineers would have to come up with a solution of how do you accommodate a walkway where we have limited access to land? And, of course, that's what we're very excited about because it presents an opportunity for us.

And I did say the final question, but very quickly, any idea when the first phase might commence and even a vague idea when first phase might be done?

So are you going to publish or am I going to have to ask? If my next door neighbor does something and I know that he's doing it, how do I know that he's doing it if he doesn't tell me?

So he will tell you because once you submit the building plan application, then, of course, he has to advertise.

Council will inform the abutting property owner what has not happened previously, that you were not informed of the final decision that council made.

And now you are informed it up and you only previously would have seen that the construction commences and you, of course, interpret that as confirmation that consent has been given by council.

When you say they have to advertise it, where and how and when do they have to advertise it?

So, John, so the architect would submit the planning application or building plan application on the city's development application management system.

We would then receive the application once it's deemed to be complete.

We would then issue notices to the abutting property owners so they will be informed by council.

Eddie, is it a principle of building and developing at all costs? And I appreciate the availability concerns, uh, an availability crisis in the city, but how do you respond to many Cape Town residents who feel that planning policy increasingly prioritizes the interests of developers or investors or people who can afford to invest in high-rise developments over the needs of, of ordinary Capetonians struggling to find affordable housing?

So it's, it's most certainly not development at all costs, Lester.

I think if you, depends on who you're speaking to.

Uh, if you're speaking to the developers, they will argue that those in, w- as they would term them, the greenies, they are, we're supporting the greenies, depending if you're speaking to the, those in the environmental space, they are saying you are supporting these applications at the cost of the environment.

And if you look at the data, most certainly that's not the case.

Something that we, we don't often publish would be to confirm how many decisions the Municipal Planning Tribunal has refused.We only have these sort of conversations when there's development that's approved and, uh, there's some concerns about the process, and we respond to that.

And then we debate the, the city's densification policy.

What would be your response then?

Is this a completely open ended invite or does the city have plans that it wants the residents of the area to refine and shape a little bit? But essentially, you know what you think is best in terms of reimagining.

John, I would say it's open in the sense that if you look what's happening currently there, it is a very important urban note for us.

It's right next to Rondebos Station.

We see the inclusive student accommodation.

We see the heritage infrastructure.

You have St. Paul's Church there.

You have the Rondebos Fountain there.

And you don't have to change anything else.

mean ken and i talked to a lot of people for all sorts of things sometimes they use the brain sometimes they don't

that's all right so here's the thing we so some of the argument is uh from the other side those who disagree is that Only public money, public money should only be spent for public schools, right? Well, first of all, that argument doesn't hold up for, it only holds up K through 12.

Like it doesn't, I told one guy to give his Pell Grant money back then because he took public money and went to Drake.

So I'm just saying, you know, why didn't you go to Regent University? I'm pretty sure Pell Grants are public money.

And he's like, well, that's different.

And he's like, wait a minute.

And he's kind of like, you can see the wheels turning.

get that education