News

Pietermaritzburg municipal workers demand permanent jobs

About a hundred municipality workers on temporary contracts for the Msunduzi municipality, which includes Pietermaritzburg, downed their tools and protested outside the KaMagwayi depo yesterday. They are demanding permanent positions.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 8 December 2015

City steps up bus safety checks for annual exodus to Eastern Cape

The City of Cape Town will, from 10 December until Christmas Eve, step up safety checks on buses departing to the Eastern Cape. But some bus drivers are annoyed by the inconvenience this causes at the busiest time of the year.

Siyavuya Khaya and GroundUp staff

News | 7 December 2015

Masiphumelele: before and after the fire

Here are two aerial photographs of Masiphumelele's Section D and Section E informal settlements. The first was taken before Sunday morning's fire, and the second was taken after.

GroundUp staff

News | 4 December 2015

“My son will graduate because of the money from the waste pickers”

It may not seem like much to others, but the money she makes from selling food to waste pickers at the New England Road dumpsite in Pietermaritzburg has allowed 45-year-old Gugu Yengwa to pay for her son’s education at the University of KwaZulu Natal.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 4 December 2015

Wolwerivier school bus cancelled for 2016

Wolwerivier children may have to change schools after the bus service to their school at Vissershok was suspended, writes Daneel Knoetze, a researcher at Ndifuna Ukwazi, an organisation that recently published a report on conditions at Wolwerivier to which Knoetze contributed.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 4 December 2015

Cough up money for TB, demand protesters

“Cough up money” for tuberculosis (TB) was the main demand of over a thousand people who marched from Keizersgracht Street to the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) this afternoon. The CTICC is hosting the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, the planet's main annual TB meeting.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 3 December 2015

Man wrongly detained by Home Affairs describes ordeal

A Zimbabwean man, detained in the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp even though his passport allowed him to be in South Africa, has been released. GroundUp told his story on 25 November. He was released two days later.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 3 December 2015

Masiphumelele to get its own fire station

Masiphumelele, scene of a devastating fire last weekend, is to get its own fire station. Community leaders have welcomed the news, but expressed surprise that they were not consulted.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 3 December 2015

Khayelitsha kids have fun while learning how to stay healthy

Young children and teenagers packed Khayelitsha's Mew Way Hall to the brim today. They were entertained by the Zip Zap Circus and the Jazzart Dance Theatre. But besides having a day of fun, they also learnt about HIV and how to stay healthy, whether or not infected by the virus.

GroundUp Staff and Bernard ChiguvarePhotos by Masixole Feni

News | 1 December 2015

Municipal officials are taking the best for themselves, say waste pickers

Waste pickers at a Pietermaritzburg dumpsite say they have to compete with municipal officials who have also started picking up materials from the site.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 1 December 2015

This school has 300 students and no running water

Mahlubini Junior Secondary School near Cofimvaba has close to 300 students, no electricity in the classrooms and no running water.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 1 December 2015

Build us proper schools, students tell Education Department

Grade 11 student Achuma Mjikeliso was among a few dozen members of Equal Education protesting outside the Eastern Cape Education Department in King William’s Town yesterday. Her main complaint: leaking roofs in her classroom.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 1 December 2015

“My only thought was: I don’t want to die”

Nolufefe Mhlangeni lost her mother and her two-year-old daughter in a fire in Masiphumelele in 2013. On Sunday, she lost her home.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 30 November 2015

Bereaved Khayelitsha family wins insurance battle

Nomveliso Rululu says she wept with relief last Friday when she received a pay-out of R10,000 from Emerald Life to cover the funeral costs of her disabled teenage daughter.

Siyavuya Khaya

News | 30 November 2015

Money for TB research is shrinking while millions die

Tuberculosis (TB) killed 1.5 million people last year according to the World Health Organisation. Yet research money for TB is stagnating or even declining, according to a new report by the US based Treatment Action Group (TAG).

GroundUp staff

News | 30 November 2015

Sunday Times editor ‘was a spy’

One of the most successful agents of the apartheid state was the editor in chief of the country’s leading Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Times. This claim is contained in a book by veteran journalist John Matisonn to be released this week.

Terry Bell

News | 30 November 2015