News

Connecting youth through music

Kinky Disco brought together youth from in and around Cape Town and hosted a one-of-a-kind electronic dance music party in Langa Township.

Zethu Gqola

News | 11 March 2014

My grandchild can’t read or write

A pensioner who only had two years of schooling taught himself to read and write, while his grandson, who has reached grade 9, can’t read.

Selby Nomnganga

News | 11 March 2014

Passengers claim that Golden Arrow buses are not safe

One night in February on her way home from work, Bulelwa Thoza was stabbed and robbed inside a Golden Arrow bus by an unidentified gang member.

Pharie Sefali

News | 11 March 2014

Protest at Cape Town Pride

Not everyone in Cape Town celebrated Gay Pride in the same spirit.

Pharie Sefali

News | 10 March 2014

Kwaito duo Ruffest keep innovating

Starting off in 2004 as Kasi Vibes, kwaito duo Sello Mangwana (29) and Andile “Max” Stemela (31) reinvented themselves as Ruffest in 2007. It was the beginning of the rise of two musicians from Nyanga.

Dumisane Dabadini

News | 10 March 2014

The Khoi blues: Interview with Colin Meyer

“I am not a Coloured, I am Khoi,” says Colin Meyer. “The apartheid era imposed the identity of being Coloured on us, but that is an invention.”

Fergus Turner

News | 7 March 2014

“Boxing saved my life”: Interview with the owner of the African Youth Boxing Club

“Boxing saved my life… without boxing I would be dead”. Thembani Gqeku was telling me about his childhood and his experiences as a young professional boxer. Gqeku started boxing in East London in 1978, when he was nine years old. He had fought 18 professional fights, with five losses and a draw.

Adam Armstrong

News | 6 March 2014

And the Oscar goes to….

News | 5 March 2014

Teaching kids in Khayelitsha how to fence - for sport

A few years back you wouldn’t be seen as an ignorant person in Khayelitsha if you didn’t know what fencing is. But that is slowly changing, with the introduction of this unusual sport in the township.

Siyabonga Kalipa

News | 5 March 2014

Alleged discrimination against foreign children in the Techno Girl programme

A Zimbabwean woman, Sandra Chinyanga, is unhappy because her daughter was dropped from the Techno Girl Programme after three years of consistent participation. Now she has been told that her daughter should never have been allowed to join the programme, because she is an immigrant.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 5 March 2014

Categories of Persons: Rethinking Ourselves and Others

This slim volume, containing nine essays, is at once ambitious and humble. In their introduction, editors Megan Jones and Jacob Dlamini explain that they tried to capture a variety of deeply personal lived experiences.

Joshua Maserow

News | 5 March 2014

Jam That Session gives a boost for Cape musicians

Jam That Session is an initiative that boosts the arts in Cape Town and provides an unconventional environment for musicians to connect with their fans and fellow artists.

Dumisani Dabadini

News | 5 March 2014

Sex workers demand recognition and march to Parliament

Sex workers and sex worker advocates in Durban, Polokwane, Cape Town and Johannesburg took to the streets on Monday to honour International Sex Worker Rights’ Day. Similar marches were held in cities and towns all over the world. The protesters were calling attention to the human rights abuses suffered by sex workers and demanded legal recognition of sex work as a form of employment.

Marlise Richter

News | 4 March 2014

Ugandans in South Africa unhappy with anti-gay law

Uganda’s brutal new anti-gay law puts Dembe Ainebyona (not her real name) in a difficult situation because she may never see her country of birth again.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 4 March 2014

Inside the mind of a seasoned donkey smuggler: How an alternative medicine dealer plans to evade new regulations

Last year the health department gazetted changes to the Medicines Act which, over about five years, will require complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) to be registered with the Medicines Control Council (MCC).

Koot Kotze

News | 4 March 2014

The Khayelitsha Commission takes a break

On Friday 21 February, the first round of public sittings of the Khayelitsha Commission came to an end. There will be no public sittings until 17 March, when senior SAPS officers will continue to give testimony.

Adam Armstrong

News | 3 March 2014