Evicted resident breaks down at Lwandle inquiry and other stories

1 August 2014 | News

Featured Stories

Last night a community beat up two men, while the police watched

Two men in Nyanga were beaten very badly by about 50 members of their community, including children, after they were accused of housebreaking in the street they live in. The police stood and watched as they were beaten.

Pharie Sefali

So long and thanks for all the fish

Clans living near Kosi Bay have used an ancient fish trapping system to create a livelihood for themselves and their families for centuries. But as population pressure rises, increasing the twin stressors of poverty and unemployment, how long will the fragile balance between humans and nature provide a bountiful catch? Mandy de Waal travelled to uMhlabuyalingana for GroundUp. Jon Pienaar took the photographs.

Mandy de Waal and Jon Pienaar

Redhill\xe2\x80\x99s ruins: Cape Town\xe2\x80\x99s forgotten District Six

There\xe2\x80\x99s silence as Margaret Constant and her brother George Lawrence walk through lush Fynbos to the stone ruins of Redhill Village, the place they once called home.

Barbara Maregele

Reports

Tightrope walker says he was pushed off wire by city official

A Zimbabwean tightrope walker and musician claims that a City of Cape Town law enforcement officer pushed him off his tightrope in April, and that Camps Bay police have failed to respond.

Tariro Washinyira

Evicted student: All I could save was my backpack and ID

The only things college student Sisanda Mbayi could save before her shack was demolished last month were her backpack and ID, the ministerial inquiry into the Nomzamo (Lwandle) evictions heard yesterday.

Barbara Maregele

Parking marshals, unpaid for months, march on government

Around sixty of the CBD's parking marshals, who to have been “on strike” since October last year, marched on Western Cape Premier Helen Zille's offices at the provincial legislature yesterday.

Daneel Knoetze

29 foreign-owned shops targeted

A 37 year old Somali, Ahimenet Jamel was shot in his shop in Masiphumelele last Friday in an attempted robbery, bringing to at least 29 the number of attacks on foreign-owned shops in the Western Cape in the last three weeks.

Zintle Tia Swana

Evicted resident breaks down at Lwandle inquiry

Xoliswa Masakala broke into tears at the ministerial inquiry into the Lwandle evictions today as she was asked to comment on two pictures of herself which were published in the media. In one of the pictures, she is seen with her breasts and upper body completely exposed and the rest of her clothes appear torn.

Barbara Maregele

Robertson Abattoir was \xe2\x80\x9chell\xe2\x80\x9d

The case of 39 Robertson Abattoir workers who say they were dismissed for complaining about 18-hour days was back in court today after a 20 month delay.

Daneel Knoetze

\xe2\x80\x9cHomophobic police attack\xe2\x80\x9d to be investigated

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) this morning confirmed that it is investigating claims of police officers dragging a gay Congolese man to a back room of Claremont police station and beating him with metal poles.

Daneel Knoetze

Opinion & Analysis

Nationalising the mines is not socialism

Nationalise the mines. That is a demand taken up loudly in recent months by the Economic Freedom Fighters. It is a demand long made by many in the labour movement and it has been given added impetus with the Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) deision to dispose of, or close down, some of its older underground mines.

Terry Bell