Voting every five years is not enough - direct democracy is possible

Capitalism is not dead. But it is severely ill and its chronic contagion is spreading through the economic and social fibres of the world.

Terry Bell

News | 3 March 2014

Uganda’s apartheid-style atrocity deserves sanctions

The leaders who spoke of an African renaissance and who brought about the African Union ignored gay rights. We are seeing the consequences of their omission today.

Leon Linz

Opinion | 3 March 2014

Where is Reason?

After dropping Audio 3D in June 2012, ā€˜boom bapā€™ rapper Sizwe ā€˜Reasonā€™ Moeketsi simply disappeared from the game.

Zethu Gqola

News | 28 February 2014

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 “Ėœanti-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 legislationā€™s impact will be extensive among all Ugandan society. The legislation, according to Paul, is more about consolidating President Yoweri Museveniā€™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 yearā€™s theme is ā€œuniting cultures in Cape Townā€. 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 societyā€™s response to the budget and a documentary hosted by Sonke Gender Justice.

Compiled by Brent Meersman

News | 26 February 2014

Chicken

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 stateā€™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

Teachers face disciplinary charges for teaching in mother-tongue

Two teachers at Vela-Langa Primary school in Upington are facing a disciplinary hearing today and tomorrow for teaching their grade two classes in SeTswana and Afrikaans.

Selby Nomnganga

News | 25 February 2014

Refugee facing arrest in Congo ordered to leave SA

A 47 year old Congo-Brazzaville man has been told to leave South Africa though there is a search warrant (avis de recherche) out for him in his own country.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 25 February 2014

Back to the land: an interview with Constance Mogale

ā€œThis is my passion -- what Iā€™ve known half my life,ā€ fulminates Constance Mogale, the director the Land Action Movement of South Africa (LAMOSA), from her fifth floor office in Khotso House, Johannesburg.

Joshua Maserow

News | 25 February 2014

Manenberg schools battle for safety

Lesley Knight has been teaching at Edendale Primary School for 27 years. She has witnessed some of the worst incidents of gang violence in Manenberg.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

News | 25 February 2014