Health Professions Council tried to stop exposure of Eastern Cape health crisis

Instead of fulfilling its vision to “enhance the quality of health”, the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) tried to stop details of the health crisis in the Eastern Cape being made public.

GroundUp Staff

News | 4 November 2013

The week in political activism

This is our new, hopefully regular, feature with the latest news from civil society.

Delphine Pedeboy

News | 1 November 2013

Hipster left

News | 30 October 2013

Amber lives her dream behind the scenes of the Phantom

Not every parent would be pleased to hear their child is determined to make a life in the theatre. But Amber Mgushelwa’s family has been supportive of her career choice. Her father reassured her all the way; her mother had some concerns.

Nwabisa Pondoyi

News | 30 October 2013

Slow, unresponsive and unconcerned: How the Health Professions Council hurts patients

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is a statutory body that regulates health workers. It registers doctors and disciplines them if they do something wrong. If it had to perform its tasks properly, patients would benefit. Instead, according to several organisations and doctors, the HPCSA’s inefficiency hurts patients.

Delphine Pedeboy and GroundUp Staff

News | 30 October 2013

Daily grind of a Zimbabwean mother

Nancy Muzembe, originally from Zimbabwe, struggles against all the odds to give her son a good education.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 29 October 2013

School was key to Mandla Khusela escaping poverty

Mandla Khusela was born in Guguletu and grew up in Langa.

Pharie Sefali

News | 29 October 2013

Having a different HIV status to your partner

Lindiwe Kameni was ill in 2004. “I was in Jo’burg when I fell sick, and I tested HIV-positive”, she says. She told her husband her HIV status and things started to change.

Odwa Funeka

News | 28 October 2013

“It hurts when people call me mad”

“It hurts when people call me mad,” says Luvo Ndinisa. “I asked people from my community to stop calling me mad.”

Nwabisa Pondoyi

News | 28 October 2013

A still flickering beacon of hope

“South Africa has rather fallen off the radar,” the BBC journalist noted. This was similar to comments voiced by former anti-apartheid activists and by several one-time strugglista exiles, mainly in London, who never returned home to settle. Because, in the mainstream media of Europe, there is little mention of South Africa: and, after six weeks abroad, it was, for me, a useful reminder of how minor is our role in global political and economic affairs.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 28 October 2013

Patents must serve the public interest

It is in the interests of large multinational companies to secure as many patents as possible. The Treatment Action Campaign, in line with the Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (IP), argues that patents should only be granted for medicines that are truly new and innovative, for example a brand new cancer cure.

Marcus Low

Opinion | 24 October 2013

Patents must serve the public interest

Thousands of people in South Africa have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Many of them will die. Death from TB can be slow and horrible. Many of those who do survive will struggle with severe side effects and may need daily pills and injections. Some, like 23-year old Phumeza who described her experience of TB treatment at a Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) press conference last week, will live, but lose their hearing.

Marcus Low

Opinion | 24 October 2013

Electricity connection

News | 24 October 2013

Zambian government case against Kasonkomona unravelling

The long-awaited criminal case against Paul Kasonkomona began on 16 and 17 October in the Lusaka Magistrates Court. Witnesses for the prosecution testified during the hearing. According to Anneke Meerkotter of the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), the “evidence led by the State during Kasonkomona’s trial confirms suspicions that the arrest and prosecution of Kasonkomona was politically motivated”.

Jonathan Dockney

News | 24 October 2013

Home Affairs continues to defy court order and refuses to serve new asylum seekers

A decision taken in 2012 by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to stop processing new applicants at the Cape Town refugee reception office has resulted in asylum seekers having to travel long distances at great cost to be documented and renew their permits.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 23 October 2013

Pillow fight

News | 23 October 2013