Pietermaritzburg municipal workers demand permanent jobs

About a hundred municipality workers on temporary contracts for the Msunduzi municipality, which includes Pietermaritzburg, downed their tools and protested outside the KaMagwayi depo yesterday. They are demanding permanent positions.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 8 December 2015

City commits to upgrading Endlovini

Residents of Endlovini — who protested three weeks ago at what they described as the empty promises of ward councillor Anele Gabuza and the City of Cape Town — might have their demands met.

Siyavuya Khaya

Brief | 7 December 2015

Cosatu is not dying, but better leadership is needed

The American writer and humourist Mark Twain once wrote, following an erroneous report of his death, that it was an exaggeration. The same can be said about Cosatu.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 7 December 2015

City steps up bus safety checks for annual exodus to Eastern Cape

The City of Cape Town will, from 10 December until Christmas Eve, step up safety checks on buses departing to the Eastern Cape. But some bus drivers are annoyed by the inconvenience this causes at the busiest time of the year.

Siyavuya Khaya and GroundUp staff

News | 7 December 2015

Khayelitsha residents march against violence

Khayelitsha residents took to the streets on Friday as part of a Social Justice Coalition (SJC) campaign to mark the 16 days of protest against violence against women and children.

Siyavuya Khaya

Brief | 7 December 2015

Masiphumelele: before and after the fire

Here are two aerial photographs of Masiphumelele's Section D and Section E informal settlements. The first was taken before Sunday morning's fire, and the second was taken after.

GroundUp staff

News | 4 December 2015

“My son will graduate because of the money from the waste pickers”

It may not seem like much to others, but the money she makes from selling food to waste pickers at the New England Road dumpsite in Pietermaritzburg has allowed 45-year-old Gugu Yengwa to pay for her son’s education at the University of KwaZulu Natal.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 4 December 2015

Wolwerivier school bus cancelled for 2016

Wolwerivier children may have to change schools after the bus service to their school at Vissershok was suspended, writes Daneel Knoetze, a researcher at Ndifuna Ukwazi, an organisation that recently published a report on conditions at Wolwerivier to which Knoetze contributed.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 4 December 2015

Cough up money for TB, demand protesters

“Cough up money” for tuberculosis (TB) was the main demand of over a thousand people who marched from Keizersgracht Street to the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) this afternoon. The CTICC is hosting the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, the planet's main annual TB meeting.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 3 December 2015