GroundUp 15 - 21 August is published!

22 August 2013 | News

Featured Story - News

Khayelitsha residents take gang problem into their own hands

Residents in Khayelitsha are complaining about the rise of gangsters in the area, and that the police are not doing enough to eliminate the problem.

Pharie Sefali

News

Dali Mpofu\xe2\x80\x99s \xe2\x80\x9cnot inconsiderable fees\xe2\x80\x9d

Opinion: I enjoy lawyer jokes, but in my time with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) the lawyers I worked with didn't fit the stereotype. They often represented TAC pro bono or at reduced fees. They put money aside to fight for justice, especially for poor people. They were also modest. In our high profile cases, the TAC's lawyers were not the centre of attention. Nevertheless, TAC won most of its cases and all the key ones. We were very ably represented.

Nathan Geffen

Manenberg gang violence

News: Western Cape Police conducted crime operations in the Manenberg area on 19 August as part of ongoing efforts to end gang violence as learners returned to school

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Follow-up on Khayelitsha streetlights

News: In February, GroundUp published a report on the issue of street lights in Khayelitsha, in particular on Lansdowne Road and Mew Way. Activist organizations — the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Equal Education (EE) — held a march on 4 February in Khayelitsha.

Thandile Majivolo

Police fail to inform family of student death

News: Friends of Odwa Mafa, a 25-year-old CPUT student murdered on 2 August, are accusing the South African Police Service (SAPS) of insensitivity for failing to notify the student\xe2\x80\x99s family of his death.

Nwabisa Pondoyi

Why Zionists should support critics of the Israeli Occupation

Opinion: Shaul and Yuli Novak are two Israeli Defence Force veterans with the organisation Breaking the Silence. They are currently visiting South Africa, giving talks and promoting a book. Breaking the Silence publishes testimonies by Israeli soldiers of their actions, many of them human rights violations, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Nathan Geffen

Israel\xe2\x80\x99s harsh logic in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Review: On Monday 19 August 2013, Open Shuhada Street hosted a talk with Yehuda Shaul from Breaking the Silence about their latest book — Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers\xe2\x80\x99 Testimonies from the Occupied Territories: 2000 \xe2\x80\x93 2010.

Jonathan Dockney

Dissatisfaction with service delivery at Khayelitsha District Hospital

News: The new Khayelitsha District Hospital, officially opened in April 2012, has attracted widespread criticism and unhappiness with its quality of service, which has fallen far short of expectation.

Thandile Majivolo

The road to managed debt and financial freedom

News: Financial freedom is but a dream for most South Africans. Statistics from the Credit Bureau Monitor (CBM) show that at the end of March 2013, credit bureaus held records for 20.08 million credit-active consumers, an increase of 0.6% from the previous quarter.

Nwabisa Pondoyi

Mosaic apprenticeship programme at Spier Arts Academy

Brief: The Spier Arts Academy offers a three year, full-time apprenticeship focusing on mosaic art and includes tuition in drawing, art history and business skills - enabling apprentices to jumpstart their creative careers and run their own successful enterprises.

Rachel Kelly

Reading for change: organisation addresses social issues through cellphone fiction

Opinion: FunDza Literacy Trust is an NGO that aims to popularize reading amongst young South Africans. FunDza's goals are to encourage youngsters to read for pleasure and to help students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to become effectively literate.

Fergus Turner

SAPS run crime-scene workshop

Brief: DNA CSI: D \xe2\x80\x93 Don\xe2\x80\x99t touch, N \xe2\x80\x93 Note, record and observe, A \xe2\x80\x93 Assist police officers, C \xe2\x80\x93 comfort & support victim, S \xe2\x80\x93 Secure crime scene, I \xe2\x80\x93 Insist no-one interferes.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Marikana: a wake-up call still ignored

Opinion: Four days after the bloodletting that has become known as the Marikana massacre, this column supported the call for a comprehensive and independent inquiry. And it noted, reflecting a widespread view within the labour movement: \xe2\x80\x9cThe Lonmin tragedy is a wake-up call that South Africa will ignore at its peril.\xe2\x80\x9d

Terry Bell