About Us

Cart Horse Protection Association is committed to the welfare of the working cart horse and will continue to be involved with the carting community at grassroots level, maintain a strong and dedicated leadership, encourage participation of our beneficiaries in protecting the welfare of the working horse and their source of income, provide education and training and ensure sound financial management of donor funds.

Over the years the Cart Horse Protection Association has proved to be a creditable NPO working in the field of animal welfare with excellent social investment returns for funders and donors.

Our Vision
A regulated Cape Flats carting industry, with all cart horses fit, healthy and happy (comfortable) in their work.

Our Mission
To protect working cart horses from abuse, and contribute to the upliftment and training of the Cape Flats carting community.

Our Aim
To provide clinic, patrol, call out response, veterinary and rehabilitation services to working cart horses on the Cape Flats. To offer support, education and training to cart horse owners and drivers who collect scrap metal as a means of generating income for themselves and their families. It is estimated that working cart horses support over 6000 people on the Cape Flats. 

Background
The carting industry today has a proud heritage rooted in District Six where horses and carts were used to “smouse” (hawk) fish, fruit, vegetables, bottles and bones. Horses were kept in community stables found on every street corner, they traveled short distances with light loads and business was lucrative for the cart horse owner. With the forced removals of these communities to the Cape Flats, the lives of the cart horse owner, his family and his horses took a turn for the worst. Now living far from their markets, hawking was no longer a viable option and communities began using horses and carts for the collection of scrap metal as a means of generating an income.

This new carting industry led to the renting out of horses and carts and an increase in cart horse operators who had limited knowledge on how to properly care for and maintain a working horse. Consequently, badly shod, thin, overloaded, overworked and abused working cart horses became a common site on Cape Town’s roads.

In 1995 the Cart Horse Protection Association (CHPA) was established, providing vital services and education to the cart horse owners on the side of road and later from two rusty shipping containers, in an attempt to address the appalling conditions in which these working horses lived and worked.

Our Status
Cart Horse Protection Association is:
- A registered NPO with the Department of Social Development
- A registered PBO with the South African Revenue Service. PBO Number 930000749. All donations to the Association are tax deductible in terms of Article 18A of Income Tax Act No 58 of 1962.
- Classified as an ‘Exempt Micro Enterprise’ as per the Department of Trade and Industry’s Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice. We are a good BEE contributor and score between 65 – 75%, a BEE Recognition Level 4.