Looking back at 2021

• Published date: 22 December 2021
• Author: Yolande Du Preez yolande.dupreez@inl.co.za
• Publication title: False Bay Echo

Following the devastating fire in Masiphumelele that left 6 000 people homeless in December 2020, the City of Cape Town built 30 to 50 temporary wood-and-corrugated-iron shacks a day in January to house the most vulnerable, including the elderly and disabled, while various national and local government departments worked on a permanent solution (“Relief in sight for Masi fire victims,” Echo, January 14)

The housing project was completed in April. The City had built 851 temporary shelters and had handed them over to victims of the fire by the end of April (“No more shelters for Masi Fire victims,” Echo April 22). The temporary structures will be replaced gradually by permanent ones as the City redesigns the area. However, the process was not without complication. In March, the City had to get a court interdict to stop Masiphumelele community leaders from interfering with plans to build temporary shelters on the Masiphumelele sports field (“Interdict clears way for Masi sports field shelters,” Echo March 25).

By mid-January, the Western Cape was bracing itself for the second Covid-19 wave.

The number of patients admitted for Covid-19 at False Bay Hospital had doubled from the beginning of January and the hospital was seeing more younger patients with low oxygen levels compared to the first surge (More burials, fewer beds as Covid second wave bites,” Echo, January 21).

At the end of January, Fish Hoek’s only video store, and the last VideoRite in the country, shut its doors after more than 30 years in the valley. Store owner Dennis Keet said the loss of trade during the Covid-19 pandemic, online streaming, and illegal downloading were the final nails in the coffin for the store (“Covid, Netflix, pirating kill Fish Hoek’s last video store,” Echo, January 28).

In February, Blessing Bveni, the man dubbed the Table Mountain Killer, was handed two life terms in the Western Cape High Court for the murders of cyclist Ian McPherson and pilot Doug Notten. He was also sentenced to 33 years for the attempted murder and aggravated robbery of Malcolm Esterhuizen, the assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm of David Bucklow, and the aggravated robbery of Megan and Domain Steel and of Mr Notten’s wife, Julia.

Bveni stabbed Mr Notten, 57, to death in January 2018 while he and his wife, Julia, were hiking near Echo Valley above Boyes Drive. A few weeks later, in March 2018, he stabbed Mr McPherson to death while the 68-year-old was cycling near Brigantine Avenue in...