The Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association (Wieta), which lists some of the country's top producers, appears to have recanted on its promise to investigate allegations of assault on a farm worker by one of its members. A board member says the organisation has double standards - quick to help its farm owning members, while sweeping aside complaints of abuse from workers.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 30 January 2015
The owner of Eilandia farm will stand trial on charges of assaulting and strangling an employee in the Robertson Magistrates Court on Friday. Whatever the outcome of the case, a local farm workers’ union has heralded the police investigation and court appearance as a victory.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 30 January 2015
Draft regulations for drone usage in South Africa do not have safeguards against the use of the devices by the state as weapons or to invade people’s privacy, activists have warned. But the sub-committee in charge of compiling the regulations has said Constitutional rights will not be violated.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 27 January 2015
With only days to go before the deadline, activists from TB Proof have raised the R230,000 needed for Phumeza Tisile to have cochlear implants. The operation will give Tisile, a tuberculosis patient turned activist, the opportunity to hear again.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 23 January 2015
Mfuleni’s sports complex was vandalised and looted over the festive season. A community leader, who is lobbying for the trashed buildings to be renovated, has blamed the City of Cape Town for cancelling a contract with a security company to protect the grounds.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 22 January 2015
The father of a sixteen-year-old boy who was killed by a mob in Mfuleni yesterday has criticised the police for not being on hand to help prevent the attack or to arrest any of the killers.
Daneel Knoetze
Brief | 21 January 2015
Last year, the eviction of hundreds of shack dwellers from Lwandle, Strand on the eve of a winter storm sparked a national outcry. Seven months later, construction of alternative accommodation has ceased, and yet dozens of evictees remain homeless - holed up in a temporary relief shelter at a nearby community hall. They have been all but forgotten.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 16 January 2015
Hope Street’s pavement carpenter Mark Philander again had his material confiscated by officers from the City of Cape Town Law Enforcement this morning. Now, a local councillor has committed to linking Philander to the City’s informal traders unit in an attempt to find a public space for him to work legally and unhindered.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 13 January 2015
The eleven workers who were dismissed from Steytler Boerdery outside Robertson for taking part in strikes in January 2013 have reached a settlement with their employer and have been reinstated.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 9 January 2015