GroundUp Newsletter 28 February 2014: Province tries to run illegal trial with quack medicine and other stories

Top Stories

Province tries to run illegal trial with quack medicine

The Eastern Cape Health Department has instructed hospitals to give an untested medicine to patients with tuberculosis. It has not received ethical approval to proceed with this clinical trial. Now it appears the project has been scrapped, apparently after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) asked the national government to intervene.

GroundUp Staff

Manenberg schools battle for safety

Lesley Knight has been teaching at Edendale Primary School for 27 years. She has witnessed some of the worst incidents of gang violence in Manenberg.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

Stumbling across vigilante violence

Yet another vigilante incident took place in Endlovini, Khayelitsha, at 5pm on 20 February on the open field at the corner of Mew Way and Steve Biko Road.

Adam Armstrong

News

Manenberg community taking back their streets

Manenberg is a township in the Cape Flats outside Gugulethu. The apartheid government originally created it to relocate Coloured families who had been forcibly removed from their homes. Today it often makes the news because of gang violence.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

What does Uganda\xe2\x80\x99s \xe2\x80\x98anti-gay\xe2\x80\x99 law mean for gay people?

On 24 February 2014, Uganda passed legislation that criminalises homosexuality. Paul Semugoma, a gay Ugandan activist who recently gained temporary residence in South Africa, says that the legislation\xe2\x80\x99s impact will be extensive among all Ugandan society. The legislation, according to Paul, is more about consolidating President Yoweri Museveni\xe2\x80\x99s power ahead of the 2016 Ugandan elections than about dealing with any meaningful social ill.

Jonathan Dockney

Is Cape Town Pride serious about gay rights?

Cape Town Pride 2014 (CTP) takes place from 21 February to 1 March. The annual festival aims to celebrate gay rights in South Africa. This year\xe2\x80\x99s theme is \xe2\x80\x9cuniting cultures in Cape Town\xe2\x80\x9d. However, people from communities around Cape Town have said that they feel CTP excludes them and the serious issues affecting them as gay people.

Jonathan Dockney and GroundUp Staff

High Court reverses order to protect Manenberg schools

The Cape Town High Court has overturned its order that would have forced the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to provide safety and security for five Manenberg schools.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

Paul Kasonkomona found not guilty

Paul Kasonkomona, a human rights activists working in Zambia, has been acquitted after almost a year of legal proceedings.

Jonathan Dockney

Teachers face disciplinary charges for teaching in mother-tongue

Two teachers at Vela-Langa Primary school in Upington are facing a disciplinary hearing today and tomorrow for teaching their grade two classes in SeTswana and Afrikaans.

Selby Nomnganga

Refugee facing arrest in Congo ordered to leave SA

A 47 year old Congo-Brazzaville man has been told to leave South Africa though there is a search warrant (avis de recherche) out for him in his own country.

Tariro Washinyira

Back to the land: an interview with Constance Mogale

\xe2\x80\x9cThis is my passion — what I\xe2\x80\x99ve known half my life,\xe2\x80\x9d fulminates Constance Mogale, the director the Land Action Movement of South Africa (LAMOSA), from her fifth floor office in Khotso House, Johannesburg.

Joshua Maserow

Editorial

Why is there a homophobe on the Global Fund?

In March 2013, Dr Patrobas Mufubenga, a malaria expert, was unanimously appointed a member of the Developing Country NGO Delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria for a two-year renewable term. It is a key position at arguably the most important health funding mechanism in the world.

GroundUp Staff

Activist Beat

The week in political activism

This week we have reports on civil society\xe2\x80\x99s response to the budget and a documentary hosted by Sonke Gender Justice.

Compiled by Brent Meersman

Opinion

How the state delivered PR instead of services to Madibeng

Public outrage followed after protestors died in January while demonstrating against problems with water service delivery in Madibeng. Until then the state\xe2\x80\x99s actions in Madibeng produced PR, but failed to lead to any meaningful engagement with those directly affected by the failures of the municipality.

Koketso Moeti

Battle against Uganda\xe2\x80\x99s anti-homosexual law is not over

The battle against Uganda\xe2\x80\x99s anti-homosexual law is not over. Health and HIV may be the new frontier to confront homophobia explains Dr Andrew Tucker.

Andrew Tucker

Music Review

Where is Reason?

After dropping Audio 3D in June 2012, \xe2\x80\x98boom bap\xe2\x80\x99 rapper Sizwe \xe2\x80\x98Reason\xe2\x80\x99 Moeketsi simply disappeared from the game.

Zethu Gqola

Cartoon

Chicken

Roberto Millan