Weekly newsletter 30 June - 07 July 2014: What needs to be done about metrorail and other stories

Metrorail

What needs to be done about Metrorail?

Cape Town\xe2\x80\x99s commuter train service is abysmal. Our trains are late, dangerous and uncomfortable.

GroundUp Editor

Metrorail newsletter reveals how often trains are late

\xe2\x80\x9cI\xe2\x80\x99m stuck at the station—the train\xe2\x80\x99s late\xe2\x80\x9d has become a catchphrase for Metrorail commuters.. But have you ever wondered exactly how often the trains are delayed, and which lines have it the worst?

Joy Shan

That time of the month at Metrorail

Cape Town commuters blame the long queues at Metrorail ticket offices every month end on a shortage of sales agents.

Zintle Swana

Workers say Metrorail endangers their livelihoods and lives

Every morning at the TCI Apparel factory in Epping, shop steward Mymoena Williams writes down the names of the textile workers who arrive late. In this notebook are entire pages filled with employees being late for the same reason: the trains.

Joy Shan

Featured Stories

Cops say they will take Gun Free South Africa\xe2\x80\x99s concerns seriously

On Tuesday, Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) called upon Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, to institute a moratorium on firearm licensing nationwide.

Katy Osborn

Informal vendors unhappy with City's proposed trading plans

A 38-year-old fruit vendor in the city centre says it is not clear if he will be benefiting from the City of Cape Town\xe2\x80\x99s proposed plan to allocate new trading bays.

Barbara Maregele

Reports

\xe2\x80\x9cIncomprehensible\xe2\x80\x9d that Home Affairs declared 5-year-old undesirable

A recent wave of litigation against Home Affairs following the unheralded implementation of new immigration regulations on 26 May 2014 continued on Friday in Western Cape High Court.

Katy Osborn

City delays providing toilets to creche

Educators at the Suphemelela Day Care in Khayelitsha where children have been using buckets as toilets, say they are still waiting for flush toilets promised to them by the City of Cape Town more than a month ago.

Barbara Maregele

I don\xe2\x80\x99t want to go back to the streets, says Sanna

Huddled with her partner Johan in their cardboard and plastic shack behind the Belville market, Sanna Hartnick mixes brandy with Smirnoff Ice. The winter wind whirls and howls but little by little Sanna feels less cold and less stressed.

Shireen Mukadam

Mother of four battles to survive

HIV-positive Zuziwe* from Nyanga is worried about how she is going to survive this winter because she says she doesn\xe2\x80\x99t have enough food or blankets for her children.

Pharie Sefali

Science

New contraceptive is so popular that stocks are running dry

Such was the demand for a newly-introduced female contraceptive implant that stocks ran dry in the Ilembe district a week before the month's end in April. After stalling for three weeks, the programme restarted when stocks were replenished in the second week of May.

Ruth Atkinson

Brief

After seven murders in two weeks, Manenberg residents march for peace

About 100 residents marched through the streets of Manenberg today in the hope of putting a stop to the gang violence that has claimed seven lives in two weeks.

Zintle Swana and Thembela Ntongana

I\xe2\x80\x99m worth twice what I earn, says NUMSA member

Over 4,000 National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) workers stopped working and hit the streets of Cape Town city centre to demand a 12% wage increase effective from today.

Thembela Ntongana and Zintle Swana

Opinion

Rank and file make their voices heard

There seems to be renewed confidence and determination abroad among organised workers at rank and file level. Increasingly, there are fresh demands for a \xe2\x80\x9cliving wage\xe2\x80\x9d, for the historic wage gap to be closed, and for the voices of the members to be heard.

Terry Bell

Lessons from the platinum strike: the poison of inequality

The timing, duration and intensity of the long strike on the platinum belt were fuelled by a familiar South African problem: persistent and very high inequality.

Gilad Isaacs

Help! People are breathing here

Breathing air that does not damage health is one of the most important constitutional rights. But some municipalities on the polluted Mpumalanga Highveld are battling to enforce the Air Quality Act, writes Robyn Hugo.

Robyn Hugo

AMCU victory is more than just about the figures: A response to Gilad Isaacs

Gilad Isaacs underestimates the scale of AMCU's victory. His analysis offers an indicator of winner/loser based on contrasting the final settlement with the initial demand and initial offer. But this is arbitrary.

Peter Alexander

The social catastrophe that threatens South Africa

The South African economy is facing a rocky period. But don\xe2\x80\x99t blame the platinum strike or the union or workers involved. That labour dispute was a symptom, not the cause, of problems that had developed outside of the control of the workers.

Terry Bell

Activist Beat

The week in political activism

This week we cover the availability of generic drug-resistant tuberculosis medication in Khayelitsha, a worldwide anti-corruption campaign taken up by Corruption Watch, a parents\xe2\x80\x99 camp hosted by Equal Education, and an upcoming school infrastructure reform conference.

Michelle Korte

Sport

Boxing ref shows it\xe2\x80\x99s not just for men

Most women don\xe2\x80\x99t go far in boxing, but Zodumo Ndude from Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay did not let that stop her. Today she is a referee and a judge.

Siyabonga Kalipa