During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, the Netherlands was repeatedly occupied by France, and Great Britain moved to take control of Dutch colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Netherlands by treaty in 1803. British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the battle of Bloubergstrand. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain. It became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s.
The Cape Town Partnership – having worked to ensure that the 2010 FIFA World Cup is the best event ever of its kind – is already working hard at consolidating the gains from this legacy and at developing and integrating the city even further.
The partnership is convinced that a key factor in re-connecting the city is the Integrated Rapid Transport System. This is a city transformation project with the potential to drive the necessary city densification processes, with more compact development clustering around stations and along public transport corridors. It has the potential to link isolated communities to the mainstream urban economy.
A further strategy which will take the City into the future is the Central City Development Strategy (CCDS), a ten-year framework to guide public and private planners, investors and developers in the Central City.
The Central City Improvement District (CCID) is a private-public partnership formed in November, 2000 by the property owners within the central city to provide complementary services over and above what the City of Cape Town provides. The CCID arose from the Cape Town Partnership.
Two new projects which the CTP believes will impact hugely on the future development of the city are the Land Use Change Management project – a path-breaking planning project which could be used to guide development in the city – and the Inner City Regeneration Project, which involves a process whereby all Provincial assets in the Central City will be evaluated in terms of their development potential.
In an effort to help take the city forward after 2010, the CTP is throwing its weight behind the City of Cape Town’s bid to become the World Design Capital Bid 2014 a title which would keep the city on its trajectory towards becoming a leading global city.
According to the South African National Census of 2001, the population of Cape Town is 2,893,251 people. There are 759,767 formal households, of which 87.4% have a flush or chemical toilet, and 94.4% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week. 80.1% of households use electricity as the main source of energy. 16.1% of households are headed by one person.
Coloured people account for 48.13% of the population, followed by Black Africans at 31%, Whites at 18.75%, and Asians at 1.43%. 46.6% of the population is under the age of 24, whilst 5% are over the age of 65. The median age in the city is 26 years old, and for every 100 females, there are 92.4 males. 19.4% of city residents are unemployed; 58.3% of the unemployed are black, 38.1% are Coloured, 3.1% are White and 0.5% are Asian.
41.4% of Cape Town residents speak Afrikaans at home, 28.7% speak Xhosa, 27.9% speak English, 0.7% speak Sotho, 0.3% speak Zulu, 0.1% speak Tswana and 0.7% of the population speaks a non-official language at home. 76.6% of residents are Christian, 10.7% have no religion, 9.7% are Muslim, 0.5% are Jewish and 0.2% are Hindu. 2.3% have other or undetermined beliefs.
4.2% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling; 11.8% have had some primary school; 7.1% have completed only primary school; 38.9% have had some high school education; 25.4% have finished only high school and 12.6% have an education higher than the high school level. Overall, 38.0% of residents have completed high school. The median annual income of working adults aged 20–65 is R 25 774. Males have a median annual income of R 27 406 versus R 22 265 for females.
Education
Public primary and secondary schools in Cape Town are run by the Western Cape Education Department. This provincial department is divided into seven districts; four of these are "Metropole" districts – Metropole Central, North, South, and East – which cover various areas of the city. There are also many private schools, both religious and secular, in Cape Town.
Tertiary education
Cape Town has a well-developed higher education system of public universities. Cape Town is served by three public universities: the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Stellenbosch University, while not in the city itself, is 50-kilometres from the City Bowl and has additional campuses, such as the Tygerberg Faculty of Health Sciences and the Bellville Business Park closer to the City.
Both the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University are leading universities in South Africa. This is due in large part to substantial financial contributions made to these institutions by both the public and private sector. UCT is an English speaking institution. It has over 21,000 students and has an MBA programme that is ranked 51st by the Financial Times in 2006. It is also the top-ranked university in Africa, being the only African university to make the world's Top 200 university list at number 146. Since the African National Congress has come into governmental power, some restructuring of Western Cape universities has taken place and as such, traditionally non-white universities have seen increased financing, which has benefitted the University of the Western Cape.
The public Cape Peninsula University of Technology was formed on January 1, 2005, when two separate institutions – Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon – were merged. The new university offers education primarily in English, although one may take courses in any of South Africa's official languages. The institution generally awards the National Diploma.
Sport
Cape Town's most popular sports by participation are cricket, association football, swimming, and rugby union. In rugby union, Cape Town is the home of the Western Province side, who play at Newlands Stadium and compete in the Currie Cup. In addition, Western Province players (along with some from Wellington's Boland Cavaliers) comprise the Stormers in the Southern Hemisphere's Super 14 competition. Cape Town also regularly hosts the national team, the Springboks, and hosted matches during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, including a semi-final.
Association football, which is better known as soccer in South Africa, is also popular. Two clubs from Cape Town play in the Premier Soccer League (PSL), South Africa's premier league. These teams are Ajax Cape Town, which formed as a result of the 1999 amalgamation of the Seven Stars and the Cape Town Spurs; and Santos. Cape Town was also the location of several of the matches of the FIFA 2010 World Cup including a semi-final, held in South Africa. The Mother City built a new 70,000 seat stadium (Green Point Stadium) in the Green Point area.
In cricket, the Cape Cobras represent Cape Town at the Newlands Cricket Ground. The team is the result of an amalgamation of the Western Province Cricket and Boland Cricket teams. They take part in the Supersport and Standard Bank Cup Series. The Newlands Cricket Ground regularly hosts international matches.
Cape Town has Olympic aspirations: in 1996, Cape Town was one of the five candidate cities shortlisted by the IOC to launch official candidatures to host the 2004 Summer Olympics. Although the games ultimately went to Athens, Cape Town came in third place. There has been some speculation that Cape Town is seeking the South African Olympic Committee's nomination to be South Africa's bid city for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
Sports events
The city of Cape Town has vast experience in hosting major national and international sports events.
The Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour is the world's largest individually timed cycle race – and the first event outside Europe to be included in the International Cycling Union's Golden Bike Series. It sees over 35 000 cyclists tackling a 109 km route around Cape Town.
The Absa Cape Epic is the largest full-service mountain bike stage race in the world.
Some notable events hosted by Cape Town have included the 1995 Rugby World Cup, 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, and World Championships in various sports such as athletics, fencing, weightlifting, hockey, cycling, canoeing, gymnastics and others.
Cape Town was also a host city to the 2010 FIFA World Cup from 11 June to 11 July 2010, further enhancing its profile as a major events city. It was also one of the host cities of the 2009 Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
Cape Town is often referred to as one of the high-risk areas in the world with a murder rate on par with that of Rio de Janeiro. For car-jacking, theft and robbery the middle class and more well-heeled population are especially targeted. However the numbers have quite significantly decreased in the Western Cape in 2010 since the statistics in 2007/8.
Many suburbs have got their own neighborhood watch teams on the road which patrol the streets day and night and so cut down on criminal offences drastically. Robbery at business and residential premises are unfortunately escalating and increased for robberies at residential premises by 27.3%.
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