One of the striking features of South African politics in recent years is its re-militarisation - a tendency for political issues to be addressed or resolved by force. This is part of a wider problem of violence suffusing South African society in general - that people, especially men, vent their anger with violence rather than discuss what has caused them to be annoyed in areas unrelated to politics, for example so-called “road rage”.
Raymond Suttner
Opinion | 2 December 2014
Shackdwellers from the original settlement in Marikana, Philippi, are celebrating a court interdict which will protect them from being arbitrarily evicted “through the back door”. Interdicts secured by landowners and municipalities are supposed to prohibit further settlement. Yet they are often so vague that they allow for people who have already settled to be removed.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 1 December 2014
About 200 people gathered at The Orbit in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on World Aids Day in support of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). The TAC is trying to raise R30million for 2015 in order to continue doing its work.
GroundUp Staff
Brief | 1 December 2014
Politically, the biggest potential loser in the ongoing and increasingly bitter fracas within Cosatu and its affiliates is the smallest member of the ANC-led tripartite alliance, the South African Communist Party (SACP). That party’s Medium Term Vision (MTV), described in some party documents as a “ten-year plan” looks close to being in tatters.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 30 November 2014
The police, civil society and Khayelitsha community activists are beginning to work together to give effect to the commission of inquiry into policing's recommendations. Here's an update on progress so far, and plans for next year.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 28 November 2014
Sitting on a worn-out green sofa outside Durban’s giant Glebelands hostel, Thulani Kati describes in graphic detail his alleged torture by a special police unit on 2 October this year.
Fatima Asmal and Barbara Maregele
Feature | 28 November 2014
Angy Peter, her husband Isaac Mbadu, Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina will not get prison sentences. They have also been given bail. Dayimani and Dina were released today. Peter and Mbadu are expected to be released from Pollsmoor tomorrow.
GroundUp Staff
News | 27 November 2014
“No more lip services, we want action. No more boardroom activism, no more!” shouted thousands of activists as they marched to parliament today.
Thembela Ntongana
News | 27 November 2014
Wages should be regulated, but minimum wages should be set at levels that do not destroy jobs, write Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Nattrass.
Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Nattrass
Opinion | 27 November 2014
A man was injured when police fired rubber bullets at a crowd of about a thousand asylum seekers earlier today at the Home Affairs Temporary Refugee Centre on Cape Town’s foreshore. Witnesses say that a nine-month-old baby was also injured.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 27 November 2014
The criminal justice system had failed by releasing Rowan du Preez, the court heard yesterday in the trial of Angy Peter and three others for du Preez’s murder.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 27 November 2014
Lack of mattresses, a leaking roof, lack of hot water and insufficient access to medical treatment: Pollsmoor’s facility for awaiting trial prisoners has been slammed by civil society organisations for what they call “several concerns regarding conditions of detention at the facility.”
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 27 November 2014
The increase in minimum wages for domestic workers of R1 an hour is not enough, says Myrtle Witbooi, general secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU).
Thembela Ntongana
News | 26 November 2014
Lulamile Witbooi lost his legs in a train accident in 1991. Today he runs the “Corner Market”, a thriving fruit and vegetable shop in Zwezwe, Khayelitsha.
Joyce Xi
News | 26 November 2014
Andaleeb Rinquest remembers the moment she accepted, with certainty, the imminence of her own death.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 26 November 2014
This week, witnesses began testifying in the sentencing hearing of Angy Peter, Isaac Mbadu, Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 25 November 2014
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