Manenberg community taking back their streets
Manenberg is a township in the Cape Flats outside Gugulethu. The apartheid government originally created it to relocate Coloured families who had been forcibly removed from their homes. Today it often makes the news because of gang violence.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 28 February 2014
Province tries to run illegal trial with quack medicine
The Eastern Cape Health Department has instructed hospitals to give an untested medicine to patients with tuberculosis. It has not received ethical approval to proceed with this clinical trial. Now it appears the project has been scrapped, apparently after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) asked the national government to intervene.
GroundUp Staff
News | 28 February 2014
What does Uganda’s “˜anti-gay’ law mean for gay people?
On 24 February 2014, Uganda passed legislation that criminalises homosexuality. Paul Semugoma, a gay Ugandan activist who recently gained temporary residence in South Africa, says that the legislation’s impact will be extensive among all Ugandan society. The legislation, according to Paul, is more about consolidating President Yoweri Museveni’s power ahead of the 2016 Ugandan elections than about dealing with any meaningful social ill.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 27 February 2014
Is Cape Town Pride serious about gay rights?
Cape Town Pride 2014 (CTP) takes place from 21 February to 1 March. The annual festival aims to celebrate gay rights in South Africa. This year’s theme is “uniting cultures in Cape Town”. However, people from communities around Cape Town have said that they feel CTP excludes them and the serious issues affecting them as gay people.
Jonathan Dockney and GroundUp Staff
News | 27 February 2014
High Court reverses order to protect Manenberg schools
The Cape Town High Court has overturned its order that would have forced the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to provide safety and security for five Manenberg schools.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
News | 26 February 2014
Paul Kasonkomona found not guilty
Paul Kasonkomona, a human rights activists working in Zambia, has been acquitted after almost a year of legal proceedings.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 26 February 2014
The week in political activism
This week we have reports on civil society’s response to the budget and a documentary hosted by Sonke Gender Justice.
Compiled by Brent Meersman
News | 26 February 2014
How the state delivered PR instead of services to Madibeng
Public outrage followed after protestors died in January while demonstrating against problems with water service delivery in Madibeng. Until then the state’s actions in Madibeng produced PR, but failed to lead to any meaningful engagement with those directly affected by the failures of the municipality.
Koketso Moeti
Opinion | 26 February 2014