This week, we cover the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, what’s happening in education and the patent wars.
Brent Meersman and GroundUp Staff
News | 22 January 2014
Penumbra arose out of Songeziwe Mahlangu’s MA in Creative Writing at Rhodes University. Set in Cape Town, it is the story of a restless young graduate, Mangaliso Zolo, working at an alienating office job for a large corporate insurance company. He suffers from mental illness, most probably schizophrenia, and the reader follows him on the chaotic journey of his mind for several days through the university southern suburbs.
Songeziwe Mahlangu
News | 22 January 2014
Since starting in November, some Khayelitsha refuse collectors say they still haven’t received uniforms or protective gear to wear while doing their jobs. Their employer says it is all lies.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 22 January 2014
There is a large backlog in social grant payments at South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA) branches in Gugulethu and Mitchell's Plain. Beneficiaries who have not received their grants in months are accusing the state agency of incompetence.
Pharie Sefali
News | 22 January 2014
A 21-year-old Somali man, Ibrahim Abdulkhadir from Malmesbury, was turned away from the Cape Town Refugee Reception Offices (RRO) on 5 July 2012 and denied an opportunity to collect his asylum document and legalise his stay in the country.
Tariro Washinyira
Feature | 22 January 2014
It was a scorching hot day in Khayelitsha today, as the Commission of Inquiry into policing, led by Justice Kate O'Regan and Advocate Vusi Pikoli, got underway.
Adam Armstrong
Brief | 22 January 2014
Three Zimbabwean men were detained at Richmond Police Station for over 15 days for being in the country unlawfully. The police were apparently waiting upon Immigration Services of the Department of Home Affairs to deport the men.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 22 January 2014
The Commission of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha starts today. Here’s a quick and simple guide to it.
Adam Armstrong
News | 21 January 2014
Is the South African Police Service actively trying to intimidate those who campaigned for the Commission of Inquiry into Policing Khayelitsha? A few suspicious incidents suggest they are.
Adam Armstrong
News | 21 January 2014
A leaked email shows that a plan for a campaign to scuttle the South African government's draft intellectual property policy was about to proceed, despite a denial by the pharmaceutical industry that it had approved the campaign.
GroundUp Staff
News | 21 January 2014
Far from the bustling streets of downtown Johannesburg, much of it built by the bounty of South Africa’s gold mines, thousands of former mineworkers suffer from painful diseases contracted on the job. These men labour to breathe, their lungs degraded by the occupational diseases of silicosis and tuberculosis.
Ryan Boyko, Seyward Darby, and Rose Goldberg
News | 20 January 2014
Mshengu’s blue chemical toilets have once again toppled over in Khayelitsha’s BM Section causing residents to defecate in the bushes.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 15 January 2014
On 20 February 2014, a preliminary ruling will be made in the case of The People v Kasonkomona in the Lusaka Magistrates Court. The ruling will determine if Paul Kasonkomona needs to defend himself against the state’s case or if the case should be dismissed and Kasonkomona acquitted.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 15 January 2014
On 7 and 8 January, the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolished more than 40 homes at the Marikana settlement in Philippi East. There has been ongoing conflict between the City and the residents who have settled on this plot of privately owned land just off Symphony Way.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Feature | 15 January 2014
Please protect local and foreign visitors to our natural treasures. We cannot afford to lose touris… Read more
It sounds as if there is a massive cover-up on the go here. Only one question from me: who was the … Read more
Projects of this nature are complex and it is easier to write horror stories about them than to exp… Read more
I work for an NGO in the HIV unit. It would be impossible for the DSD to reach their targets. They … Read more
The city should not entertain the notion of fixing providing water, sanitation and electricity to b… Read more