Feature
Wolwerivier gets its first taste of violence
It was a weekend of flaring emotions and violence at Wolwerivier relocation area. On Friday, residents protested against the City’s relocation of strangers into empty units sought by the community to alleviate the overcrowding at the settlement. Rubber bullets were fired into crowds containing mostly women and children. People were arrested and beaten when they refused to disperse.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 21 September 2015
Big Issue vendor goes the extra mile
Simphiwe Mabuwa (45) goes beyond the call of duty as a Big Issue and Funny Money salesman at the intersection between Newlands Avenue and Dean Street in Newlands. Over the five years he has worked in the area, he has also taken on the role of community watchman and good friend to many passers-by.
Pasqua Heard
Feature | 16 September 2015
Changing your gender in South Africa
“I have some very vivid memories of when I was really young, say four or five years old, my grandmother would dress me in women’s clothing and say, ‘Look at my granddaughter’, but also in a playful way,' says Sandile Ndelu, a transgender woman, who is a law student at UCT.
Ashleigh Furlong
Feature | 15 September 2015
Historic pigeon race unites fanciers
At dawn on Saturday 12 September more than 15,000 homing pigeons were released from Hanover in the Northern Cape, kicking off the largest single pigeon race in South African history. The birds burst into the air and began circling to orientate themselves. Within ten minutes they had vanished, setting off on the 600 km journey home.
Kimon de Greef
Feature | 14 September 2015
“If my baby is dead, why don’t they just tell me?”
After recovering from a difficult labour, Nolitha Kamana went to look for her baby in the hospital wards, only to find the child in the mortuary. Her story is one of scores collected by the Treatment Action Campaign highlighting problems in maternity and obstetrics units in Cape Town. GroundUp's Mary-Anne Gontsana spoke to some of the women.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Feature | 9 September 2015
Some of SA’s top companies are quietly breaking the law
Some of the top companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are flouting environmental laws and not telling their shareholders, according to a study by the Centre for Environmental Rights.
Alide Dasnois
Feature | 8 September 2015
Buffalo City janitors have to pay for their own toilet cleaning materials
Janitors employed by the Buffalo City municipality in East London to clean toilets say they are forced to pay for cleaning materials and gloves from their own salaries.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
Feature | 3 September 2015
Jobs more important than smells, say Hangberg residents
The proposed closure of Oceana’s Hout Bay Fishmeal and Fish Oil Facility is worrying people of Hangberg, where many employees live.
Ashleigh Furlong
Feature | 2 September 2015
When temporary housing isn’t temporary
“They promised us that we would stay for a short period of time. They didn’t keep their promise,” says Amelia Nono, who came to Intersite, a temporary relocation area (TRA) in Langa, nine years ago.
Ashleigh Furlong
Feature | 18 August 2015