What a good news message from the City of Cape Town yesterday, in its weekly Water feedback to its residents and to businesses. Cape Town Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson announced that it is the reduced usage by the agricultural sector that is allowing the positive water supply projection, extending Day Zero by almost a month, from 16 April to 11 May. An article I found on Facebook provides additional good news to the water projection, it not being clear if this has been factored into the latest Day Zero calculation. Punitive water tariffs since 1 February may also slowly be starting to show their effect. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Ian Neilson
Water Day Zero brought forward by nine days, to 12 April 2018!
For the first time Cape Town Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson has issued a statement about the City of Cape Town’s dire water shortage situation, after taking over the responsibility for the water situation for the city, as well as its communication. Current Mayor Patricia de Lille has been suspended from all water-related issues and its communication! Sadly the Deputy Mayor has announced that water-saving measures are not meeting targets, and therefore Day Zero has been brought forward by nine days to 12 April, from 21 April previously! Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 9/10 December
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Tim Harris has been appointed as the new CEO of Wesgro, the trade, investment and tourism promotion agency for the Western Cape, for three year period Minister Alan Winde announced today. Harris currently is the Investment Officer of the City of Cape Town, and will replace Nils Flaatten from 1 January. (received via media release from Minister Winde’s office)
* Despite doom and gloom, South Africans enjoy eating out at restaurants and buying food at take-away outlets, according to a survey by Statistics SA. October was the third best month in respect of food and beverage expenditure in the past four years, with a total expenditure of almost R4 billion. R1,8 billion was spent at restaurants and coffee shops, and R1,5 billion at take-away and fast food outlets. Catering made up the balance. The food and beverage industry grew by 11,5% year on year, with the take-away/fast food side growing at 15%. Total expenditure on the food and drink industry was R43 billion in the past year.
* Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown has requested Eskom to communicate its loadshedding schedules more Continue reading →
Cape Town Mayoral Committee for Tourism, Events, and Marketing Grant Pascoe defects to ANC, loses portfolio with immediate effect!
What excellent news it was to see on Twitter yesterday afternoon that now former Councillor Grant Pascoe has defected to the ANC for ‘personal reasons’, a decision Mayor Patricia de Lille (who appeared to be a close friend), said caught her by surprise. She announced that he has been stripped of his position as Councillor and as Mayoral Committee member of Tourism, Events, and Marketing with immediate effect. We have been very critical of Pascoe’s lack of marketing knowledge and leadership, once again leaving our City’s tourism industry without a marketing plan for the forthcoming winter, which kicked in earlier than usual last week!
The announcement was made by the ANC, and not by Pascoe himself. The political party said: ‘Councillor Pascoe joins an overwhelming number of South Africans, who despite finding themselves in other political parties, recognise the ANC as the only organisation with the track record, capacity, and determination to build a South Africa’. Pascoe explained that he was unhappy with the direction which the DA was taking, and had discussed this internally. To avoid a fight, he decided to leave. He said he feels ‘at home‘ in the ANC, EWN reported! Yet on Pascoe’s Facebook page for his ‘political organisation‘, his ‘About Grant Pascoe’ still states: ‘The Democratic Alliance is South Africa and Cape Town’s best hope for a better future for all our people‘!
Pascoe served as a City of Cape Town DA Councillor for 13 years, and as a Mayoral Committee member for eight years, the last four of which were heading up the Tourism, Events, and Marketing portfolio. Two years ago he initiated the creation of a Tourism, Events and Marketing directorate, which reported to him and is headed up by Anton Groenewald. Pascoe’s sole contribution was to bring soccer events to Cape Town, which made no impact on the tourism industry in terms of bookings, reflecting his personal interest in soccer. From the outset we have criticised Pascoe’s incompetence in the Tourism portfolio: Continue reading →