Articles for GroundUp Staff

Ceres community mobilises against homophobia

When David Olyn was tortured and murdered in the idyllic Western Cape town of Ceres just because he was gay, the town's residents came together to fight homophobia.

GroundUp Staff

News | 25 April 2014

Zackie Achmat says why he won’t vote ANC

In an interview with GroundUp, former TAC leader and current director of Ndifuna Ukwazi Zackie Achmat said this time he will not be voting for the ANC in the 7 May elections.

GroundUp Staff

News | 24 April 2014

Compulsory service in non-model C government schools for all teaching graduates

Yesterday the Department of Education issued new regulations that make it compulsory for all new teachers to teach for one year in non-model C government schools. This is with immediate effect. It applies to graduates of all teaching colleges and post-graduate university courses in 2014.

GroundUp Staff

News | 1 April 2014

NEHAWU protests in City

About 1,000 to 1,500 members of the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union marched through town on 27 March to the offices of the Western Cape government.

GroundUp Staff

Brief | 27 March 2014

Fighting the white plague

Today is World TB Day. More people die of tuberculosis in South Africa than from any other disease. The HIV epidemic is to a large degree responsible for that. Dealing effectively with the one epidemic typically improves the outcomes of the other.

GroundUp Staff

News | 24 March 2014

Why President Zuma must go

Many South Africans from all walks of life and across the political spectrum are calling for the resignation and impeachment of President Jacob Zuma. In the light of a thoroughly researched and meticulously presented report by the Public Protector into the Nkandla matter, these calls seem more than justified.

GroundUp Staff

News | 20 March 2014

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

News | 28 February 2014

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’s theme is “uniting cultures in Cape Town”. 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

News | 27 February 2014

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

News | 24 February 2014