Two Western Cape sites have been declared as provincial Heritage Sites – the Blombos Cave in the Blombosfontein Nature Reserve, Southern Cape and the Elandsfontein Fossil Dune Site on the West Coast.
“Both these heritage sites contain important evidence of life from previous years and with their declaration as Provincial Heritage Sites, we are ensuring that they will still be kept preserved for years to come”, says  Anroux Marais, Western Cape MEC for Cultural Affairs,
According to Marais the Blombos Cave is an especially important site, as it contains archaeological evidence from the Middle Stone Age and bears testimony to a cultural tradition which has now disappeared.
Due to the high levels of sensitivity and their location on private property, the sites are not open to the public. However, in the future, once Heritage Western Cape has developed and finalised the conservation management plans for the sites, there would be the possibility that they might be visited on an appointment basis.
Marais says Heritage Western Cape has played an important role in ensuring that these sites will now be kept safe for future generations.

 
Shrieks of joy can now be heard on Atlantis’ dunes over weekends as kids from this notorious gangland area flock to be part of some healthy fun in the sun. Youngsters from this area seem to be embracing an initiative by Capetonian Tessa Bredenkamp, who has established a sandboarding club to keep them off the streets and brighten their lives. Large parts of Atlantis are known for gangsterism and violence and Tessa, who has experienced sexual abuse herself, believes these weekend gatherings will show Atlantis’s kids that there is more to life than gangs, drugs and violence. “I hope it will influence and inspire them in a positive way”, says Tessa, who is paying for all of this out of her own pocket.

 
Xenophobia is an expression of a terrible failure of memory. We are forgetting the long years of struggle against ethnic and related forms of identity mobilisation.  We are forgetting the support given by the peoples of the African continent to the struggle against apartheid.  And we are forgetting the legacies of liberation stalwarts like Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada and many other veterans of the struggle.
 
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Anant Singh and Videovision Entertainment call on all South Africans to take responsibility for embracing the hospitality that defines our democratic order and to work together to find solutions to a problem which is destroying lives and bringing South Africa shame.  We urge those in leadership positions to lead.  We encourage all who can lead to become leaders.  We offer you this short film to be inspired to find humility and leadership in whatever contexts you find yourselves in.
Anti Xenophobia Awareness Film
 
 

 
“Today we can shine a light of hope in the darkness brought about by substance abuse”. That’s the word from mayor Patricia de Lille who opened the city’s latest treatment centre for drug and alcohol abuse today. The new facility, Matrix Clinic in Manenberg, forms part of a R37.8 million investment by the City of Cape Town to combat substance abuse in the metro this year. De Lille announced that 8 122 people have been through this program at the various treatment sites that have been erected across the city since 2008. All these sites offer a free 16-week alcohol and drug outpatient treatment program as well as support for affected families. The similar centres, in Milnerton, Tafelsig and Delft, have been hailed as a huge success by De Lille. “We are doing everything we can in this fight, and now more than ever before, we need communities to come forward and work with us”, says De Lille. The mayor emphasized that truly sustainable progress can only be achieved when people come together.