Seedtime: An Omar Badsha Retrospective

Seedtime is an impressive retrospective exhibition of works by South African artist, photographer and former political activist, Omar Badsha, spanning a period of 50 years.

GroundUp Staff

News | 23 July 2015

Amputee uses a plastic bag for a toilet

Fifty-three year old Annacleta Zungu, who has only one leg, uses a plastic bag as a toilet at night because she is afraid to use the pit toilet outside her Pietermaritzburg house. Zungu, who is diabetic, lost her leg last year.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 22 July 2015

Scene of a murder, Hout Bay’s “white house, could be demolished

The controversial “white house” in Hout Bay, scene of the murder earlier this month of a Congolese resident, could be demolished in August, says Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 22 July 2015

SASSA beneficiaries still struggling with illegal deductions

Diena Twala, a 71-year-old grandmother from Mbekweni says illegal deductions for airtime and electricity from her South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) account are still ongoing despite countless attempts to have it stopped.

Barbara Maregele

News | 22 July 2015

Two massive medicine trials will change the way HIV is treated

Results of two large medicine trials, known as START and TEMPRANO, published this week show that the health of people with HIV will benefit from starting antiretroviral treatment earlier. These findings are a climax of a bit more than three decades of research on this relatively new disease.

Nathan Geffen

News | 22 July 2015

Police don’t give us back our goods after a raid, say traders

Vendors at the Cape Town taxi rank complain that they do not get their goods back after a police raid.

Pharie Sefali

News | 21 July 2015

Money lender targets social grant beneficiaries

At the weekend the Methodist Church in Nyanga near the taxi terminus operates as a church. But on weekdays it is the scene of a money lending business, with dozens of people queuing for loans from Moneyline Financial Services, a subsidiary of NET1, the company that pays social grants on behalf of the South African Social Security Agency.

Pharie Sefali

News | 21 July 2015

Unhappiness with electricity costs ignites protests in Pietermaritzburg

On Monday, the Sobantu community in Pietermaritzburg took to the streets with burning tyres demanding that a prepaid electricity system rolled out in April 2014 be removed from their homes. Residents say the march came about because Msunduzi Municipality failed to attend a meeting with the residents as planned.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 21 July 2015

Mother of two disabled children barely coping

Nomahlubi Mbulu is 47. She lives in a house in Old Crossroads. She has three children, a 12-year-old girl, a 17-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son. Her last born, Lilitha, and her eldest, Sibusiso, are both disabled. She is struggling to cope.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 21 July 2015