The question of class came to the fore this week with that arch free marketeer Ann Bernstein and the Centre for Democracy and Enterprise (CDE) hailing the potential growth of a global middle class, among them teachers. At the same time, the Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) concluded its conference, declaring teachers to be “revolutionary professionals, agents of change...in pursuit of socialism”.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 13 October 2014
Not far from the High Court where Shrien Dewani is on trial for murder, the Judicial Service Commission is interviewing candidate judges. The Dewani trial is getting all the attention, but the selection of judges affects us all.
Rudo Chitapi
Opinion | 8 October 2014
Once again we are having calls from a number of trade unions for the private sector to exercise “social responsibility” in order to help build “a developmental state”. It is a far cry from 1996 when the combined labour movement presented alternative economic policy proposals.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 6 October 2014
Yesterday the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) published a social audit of the state of municipal public toilets in Khayelitsha. Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg responded. This is a reply by the SJC's Axolile Notywala and Dustin Kramer to Councillor Sonnenberg.
Axolile Notywala and Dustin Kramer
Opinion | 2 October 2014
Building a socially and racially integrated Cape Town will decrease our murder rate and other violent crime, writes Zackie Achmat.
Zackie Achmat
Opinion | 30 September 2014
Wednesday was a public holiday: Heritage Day. And carnivore commercialism seems largely to have claimed it. For many — if not most — South Africans who could afford it, this was a day to indulge in and enjoy chisa nyama, the ubiquitous braai.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 29 September 2014
You probably wouldn't sprinkle antibiotics like sugar all over your breakfast cereal every morning, even if you were sick. There is, though, a good chance that you are in effect doing something similar today on Heritage Day. The steaks you are braaing, or the chicken being grilled is likely to contain traces of antibiotics.
Nicholas Ashby
Opinion | 24 September 2014
Should we spend Heritage Day celebrating our culture or is it okay just to have fun? Young people interviewed by GroundUp had different views on the subject.
Pharie Sefali
Opinion | 23 September 2014
Is South Africa on the brink of a clash between the egalitarian concepts embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the demands to retain undemocratic, feudal and colonial hangovers of the past? If so, it may be Swaziland that will provide the catalyst.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 22 September 2014
A new report by SERI profiles a community protest in Lenasia, Gauteng, and concludes that the criminal justice system was "abused" in order to intimidate activists and protesters. A look at similar cases in Cape Town seem to support this finding.
Daneel Knoetze
Opinion | 18 September 2014
On 13 September Equal Education marched in Johannesburg for decent school sanitation in Gauteng. Brad Brockman, the organisation's General Secretary, explains the campaign.
Brad Brockman
Opinion | 16 September 2014
There is no reason people with HIV shouldn't be soldiers, says Tim Flack, who served in the navy and is the Western Cape representative for the South African National Defence Force Union.
Tim Flack
Opinion | 16 September 2014
Deputy defence minister Kebby Maphatsoe this week withdrew his claim that public protector Thuli Madonsela was a “CIA spy” and apologised for the statement. But the issue continues to reverberate throughout the body politic.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 15 September 2014
This week the Public Protector was called a CIA agent. The ruling party’s tactic of labeling its critics foreign agents is counterproductive, has a bloody history and is damaging the country, writes Ayanda Kota.
Ayanda Kota
Opinion | 10 September 2014
Our justly praised Constitution and the institutions it created have taken something of a verbal battering over the past week and more — and often for the wrong reasons. In the process, the office of the public protector has become something of a surrogate battleground for the opposing factions in Cosatu.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 8 September 2014
DA leader and Western Cape premier Helen Zille has again entered the HIV prevention arena, telling us we are failing to deal with HIV because we don’t have the right approach to taking personal responsibility for sexual behaviours.
Francois Venter
Opinion | 4 September 2014