The long-awaited criminal case against Paul Kasonkomona began on 16 and 17 October in the Lusaka Magistrates Court. Witnesses for the prosecution testified during the hearing. According to Anneke Meerkotter of the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), the âevidence led by the State during Kasonkomonaâs trial confirms suspicions that the arrest and prosecution of Kasonkomona was politically motivatedâ.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 24 October 2013
A decision taken in 2012 by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to stop processing new applicants at the Cape Town refugee reception office has resulted in asylum seekers having to travel long distances at great cost to be documented and renew their permits.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 23 October 2013
Ben Biko, a former goalkeeper, coaches young soccer players in Philippi to professional level.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
News | 22 October 2013
Rene Mayinga from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on strike. He claims his employer, Street Parking Solution (SPS), which won a tender in July 2008 from the City of Cape Town to collect parking fees in the CBD, has not been paying him since 2009.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 21 October 2013
A Twitter storm erupted on 18 October after South African artist Euodia Roets published a blog post titled âHow Woolworths Really Operates!â. Roets believes her design of a hummingbird on a cushion was used by Woolworths without the company acknowledging it as her work.
Delphine Pedeboy and GroundUp Editor
News | 21 October 2013
On 15 October 2013, about 40 Department of Home Affairs (DHA) officials protested outside their Cape Town office.The protest brings to a head several months of clashes between officials and DHA management.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
News | 21 October 2013
Khayelitsha is officially turning 30. Plans to build Khayelitsha were announced by the notorious Minister of Co-operation and Development, Dr Piet Koornhof, in 1983. By 1985, the suburb Site C had 30,000 people. *
Pharie Sefali and GroundUp staff
News | 16 October 2013
G4S is the worldâs largest international security firm. It has a big presence in South Africa. Employee relations are strained at the University of Cape Town following the transfer of three G4S security guards to other G4S sites in Cape Town in September.
GroundUp Staff
News | 16 October 2013
On Monday student organisations at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) launched an awareness week called "From the same soil."
Pharie Sefali
News | 16 October 2013
What drives a 15-year-old boy to move to a neighbouring country on his own and without his guardianâs consent? Meet Brian Dlodlo, now a 20-year-old man from Zimbabwe who crossed to South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post as an unaccompanied minor in 2007. Brian has no identity papers. He is effectively the citizen of no country.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 16 October 2013
Hand in Hand Creatives (HHC) is a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) that aims to provide young people from disadvantaged communities with access to the creative arts through workshops, running outings, and planning festivals. The organisation believes that the arts can empower individuals and nurture self-respect.
Fergus Turner
News | 16 October 2013
Local organisation SEED has pledged to make 100 homes in Cape Town more sustainable this year by encouraging residents to grow their own food and eventually achieve âfood freedomâ.
Delphine Pedeboy
News | 16 October 2013
It is a bright, sunny October morning in Mitchellâs Plain. At the Rocklands Urban Abundance Centre, situated on a strip of land next to Rocklands Primary School, volunteers are hard at work tending to the plants and seedlings in the tree nursery.
Delphine Pedeboy
News | 15 October 2013
Property owners and tenants of Alexander Court in Parow say they are being terrorised by drug lords and sex workers who trespass on their balconies.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 15 October 2013