Articles for GroundUp Staff

Westlake residents demand better policing

Around 150 residents of Westlake township protested outside Kirstenhof police station today. They said the police were 'turning a blind eye' to crime in their community. They demanded the Kirstenhof station commander be removed for being unresponsive and that a satellite police station be established in the township. The community pledged their total co-operation with the police.

GroundUp Staff

News | 5 November 2015

Dispute over who represents students at UWC

On Monday, a group of about 300 protesters at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) continued their call for free education, an end to outsourcing, scrapping registration fees, clearing student debt, and the incorporation into the institution of Kovacs private residence on the UWC campus.

Ashleigh Furlong and GroundUp staff

News | 2 November 2015

Essential TB medicine: is it back in stock?

On 5 October, GroundUp reported that the pharmaceutical company Sandoz had stopped supplying an essential medicine for treating tuberculosis (TB) to South Africa.

GroundUp Staff

Brief | 2 November 2015

Do what you believe is the right thing, 1980s activist tells students

Activists are always in a minority, 1980s student leader Llewellyn MacMaster told students in Cape Town last night.

GroundUp Staff

News | 30 October 2015

UCT commits to “insourcing” - and other reports from the #FeesMustFall protests

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has agreed, in principle, to employ its workers directly, and charges were dropped against 23 protesters. But at Wits, students and reporters were intimidated by protesters. Here are reports of today's protest activities from Cape Town, East London and Johannesburg.

GroundUp staff

News | 28 October 2015

Angry Masiphumelele residents to march on magistrates’ court

An uneasy calm has returned to Masiphumelele, but residents say they are preparing further protests on Friday, when a community leader charged with murder is due to appear in court.

GroundUp Staff and Bernard Chiguvare

News | 28 October 2015

Nyanga policing: Will promises be kept this time?

In October 2012, then Western Cape police commissioner, Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer, promised that a new satellite police station would be opened in Nyanga. Three years later, the promise has not yet been kept. Nor is it clear what steps have been taken to address a multitude of problems raised by a parliamentary committee a year ago.

GroundUp staff and Tariro Washinyira

News | 28 October 2015

Universities closed and exams postponed

Exams and classes have been postponed indefinitely in a number of universities, as student protests continued. The main focus of demonstrations is shifting to the issue of outsourced workers at tertiary institutions. Differences among students about how to proceed have come to the fore. At some institutions accusations and counter-accusations of intimidation were made between students representing opposing views.

GroundUp Staff

News | 26 October 2015

Masiphumelele residents angered by arrest of community leader

While the student demonstrations were taking place, the sporadic protests that have been taking place in Masiphumelele resumed in the early hours of Friday morning after a community leader was arrested.

GroundUp Staff

News | 26 October 2015

As Zuma agrees to no fee increase, police and students clash in Pretoria and Cape Town

From Pretoria to East London, from Cape Town to Stellenbosch, and even in London, students and their supporters demanded a zero percent increase to fees. But while most of the protests were peaceful, at UWC and Pretoria protesters and police clashed.

GroundUp Staff

News | 23 October 2015

We are putting our bodies on the line, say students at Ashley Kriel Memorial

Students will shut down universities until there is agreement on a 0% fee increase next year, representatives of student organisations said in Cape Town last night.

GroundUp staff

News | 23 October 2015

Masiphumelele: no way in or out

Clashes between police and residents have once again erupted in Masiphumelele.

GroundUp Staff

Brief | 23 October 2015

“I am inspired by students’ spirit and discipline,” says Kathrada

Hundreds of Wits university students took to the floor of Senate House, dubbed Solomon Mahlangu House, singing loudly upon the arrival of anti-apartheid stalwart Ahmed Kathrada earlier today.

GroundUp staff

News | 22 October 2015

Eastern Cape building workers left high and dry

Some 20,000 building workers in the Eastern Cape are not covered by any minimum wage agreement.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and GroundUp staff

News | 21 October 2015

Protesters occupy Shoprite, demanding lower bread price

Protesters occupied Shoprite in Khayelitsha Mall this morning, demanding a reduction in the price of bread.

GroundUp Staff

Brief | 20 October 2015

Khayelitsha activists want answers from Nhleko

Police Minister Nathi Nhleko addressed over a thousand people at an Imbizo in the Khayelitsha Stadium on Saturday. He accused the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into Policing of being politically motivated. Earlier at the same meeting, ANC Western Cape head Marius Fransman, made the same accusation.

GroundUp staff and Bernard Chiguvare

Brief | 19 October 2015