The state of the city, 2026
Water, fire, energy, housing, crime and transport: where Cape Town actually stands this year, one article per challenge.
8 articles
updated 3 Aug 2026
Cape Town Data · Analysis
Data Stories
Follow the stories of Cape Town and South Africa in numbers: fires and water, weather and storms, crime and safety, housing costs, energy and transport. Each story starts with where things stand and links to the live data.
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Stories we are following
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Western Cape wildfires 2026
The worst fire season in a decade, from the first January flare-ups to the count of what burned.
9 articles updated 14 Aug 2026 -
Water and the dams
Years after Day Zero: what the dam levels, the rainfall and the driest July since 1958 actually say.
5 articles updated 21 Oct 2026 -
Load shedding, from crisis to disappearance
How years of rolling blackouts stopped, what actually changed on the grid, and what drives demand now.
7 articles updated 28 Sep 2026 -
Crime in numbers
What SAPS statistics, ward data and our own district reports show about where Cape Town is safe and where it is not.
10 articles updated 8 Oct 2026 -
Tourist scams and crime hotspots
The tricks that actually target visitors, and the places where they happen most often.
6 articles updated 24 Oct 2026 -
The N2 airport route
The road from the airport into the city, tracked update by update since 2025.
5 articles updated 28 May 2026 -
Rent, property and the cost of living
A decade of Sea Point prices, the short-term rental bylaw and what it now takes to live in Cape Town.
8 articles updated 17 Oct 2026 -
Getting around: traffic, MyCiTi and the minibus taxi
Congestion, a bus network with a political job to do, and the informal system that moves most of the city.
6 articles updated 31 Oct 2026
Early days
Threads we are watching
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Winter 2026: storms, snow and cut-off lows
The cold fronts that hit the Cape this winter, and what they did to the passes and the mountains.
3 articles updated 21 Oct 2026
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One page each on Cape Town's weather, economy, water, safety and cost of living.
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Nine districts, updated weekly, with the incidents and the SAPS figures behind them.
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