Whether legal or illegal, evicting people from their makeshift homes is an ugly, violent and brutal business. GroundUp photographer and journalist, Masixole Feni and Daneel Knoetze, were at the Marikana settlement, Philippi East, Cape Town, on a calm morning on 11 August 2014, and then the eviction teams arrived. By midday there was chaos, stones were thrown and the police were firing back with rubber bullets.
Daneel Knoetze and Masixole Feni
News | 12 August 2014
In yet another crackdown on shackdwellers in Philippi East’s “Marikana” settlement, dozens of shacks were demolished by the City of Cape Town's Anti-Land Invasion Unit on 11 August. Police providing back-up and support, humiliated, assaulted and jeered at residents as they were evicted.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 11 August 2014
One of the four people accused of murdering Rowan du Preez nearly two years ago believes he was “falsely implicated” in the matter by his ex-girlfriend after their relationship ended on a bad note.
Barbara Maregele
News | 11 August 2014
Muffin runs, a pop up shop, a new range of coffee beans and now training volunteers to be baristas -- Khayelitsha’s first coffee shop, the Department of Coffee (DOC) is growing and showing no signs of slowing down.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 11 August 2014
Residents of ward 44 in Gugulethu have taken matters in their own hands to combat crime in the area. About 122 volunteers have signed up to do community policing work, which encompasses patrolling the area 24-hours a day, checking sewage problems and collecting rubbish material. The group has divided itself into three shifts, working around the clock from 7am.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 11 August 2014
Tens of thousands of people marched through Cape Town city centre this morning in solidarity with the people of Gaza, and opposing Israeli military action.
GroundUp Staff
News | 9 August 2014
Tens of thousands of people marched through Cape Town city centre this morning in solidarity with the people of Gaza, and opposing Israeli military action.
GroundUp Staff
News | 9 August 2014
Lwandle inquiry chair Denzil Potgieter on 8 August slammed the police for withholding video footage and key documents relating to evictions at the informal settlement in June. He accused the police of giving the inquiry secretariat the “run around” during its numerous attempts to access the footage.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 8 August 2014
Tracts of private suburban land will have to be expropriated by the state at below market value if spatial apartheid in South African cities is to be reversed. The property clause in the Constitution can be interpreted in a revolutionary manner to allow for this. Expropriated land, subsidised by existing government property, should be used to provide housing for shackdwellers from the city fringe, so that informal settlements can be less dense and upgraded. These were the concluding opinions in a roundtable discussion on the Urban Land Question in the Cape Town CBD on 7 August.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 8 August 2014