News

New organisation vows to hold City transport accountable

A new organization called Public Transport Voice has launched itself at the offices of the Treatment Action Campaign, Khayelitsha. The organisation plans to educate people through workshops about the transport system and how it works. It also aims to conduct training for taxi drivers on how to conduct themselves appropriately to customers.

Pharie Sefali

News | 6 August 2014

Lifelong farm tenants evicted

In temperatures near freezing, the Joostenberg family were left with little option but to spend the night amongst their possessions on the side of the road. For a second time, they were evicted from their home by a sheriff of the court, their possessions carried out and transported off the farm where the family has lived for 50 years, and dumped next to the R318 outside Montagu.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 6 August 2014

Accused Mbadu takes the stand in Angy Peter case

Isaac Mbadu, who is accused of killing Rowan du Preez nearly two years ago, took the stand this week to give his account of the events which led to his arrest. Mbadu, his wife Angy Peter, and their co-accused Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina, are on trial in the Western Cape High Court for the kidnapping, assault and murder of Du Preez in October 2012.

Barbara Maregele

News | 6 August 2014

Lone family in Lwandle

In June, the homes of hundreds of Nomzamo informal settlement residents, who were living on SANRAL-owned land, were demolished. The evictions resulted in violent clashes between residents and police. Lulama Ndevu, 33, her partner Soyiso Jackman, and their children, including their three-week-old son Nkosana, are the first family to move into the newly built corrugated iron homes in Nomzamo. The couple, who have two older children aged three and eighteen months, moved into their new 8 metre by 6 metre home in July. Ndevu nearly gave birth inside the community hall where hundreds of destitute residents are still being housed. Ndevu says she was nine-months pregnant at the time when she was kicked and assaulted by police during the violent clash. As a result, she couldn't walk until she gave birth on 7 July.

Masixole Feni and Barbara Maregele

News | 6 August 2014

Wheelchair tennis in Khayelitsha

27-year-old Mayenzeke Gwija from Khayelitsha was born disabled in both legs. But he has not let disability get in the way of becoming a success in sport. He is currently ranked fifth by Wheelchair Tennis of South Africa.

Siyabonga Kalipa

News | 5 August 2014

Neighbour tries to bury Siqalo informal settlement

Rubble dumping on the fringe of Siqalo informal settlement has forced hundreds of shackdwellers to evacuate their homes. Those on the fringe of the settlement have experienced large boulders hitting their shacks. The mound from the dumping, which has shot up since the beginning of the year, has prevented winter rains from draining - leaving dozens of households flooded and abandoned. Yet, the owner of the plot adjacent to Siqalo who allows the dumping to go ahead unchecked, claims that the mound is a necessary safety barrier between his land and the settlement.

Masixole Feni

News | 5 August 2014

Rwandans remain divided - even in South Africa

20 years after the Rwandan genocide, the political intrigues and legal ambiguities of its aftermath are still being played out in South Africa among the expat community. Requests from Kigali for the extradition of several Rwandans living in South Africa heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.

Lara Sokoloff

News | 5 August 2014

Neighbour tries to bury Siqalo informal settlement

Rubble dumping on the fringe of Siqalo informal settlement has forced hundreds of shackdwellers to evacuate their homes. Those on the fringe of the settlement have experienced large boulders hitting their shacks. The mound from the dumping, which has shot up since the beginning of the year, has prevented winter rains from draining - leaving dozens of households flooded and abandoned. Yet, the owner of the plot adjacent to Siqalo who allows the dumping to go ahead unchecked, claims that the mound is a necessary safety barrier between his land and the settlement.

Masixole Feni

News | 5 August 2014

Durban police refused to open a case for a Zimbabwean man

A 38-year-old Zimbabwean man claims he was assaulted by a metro police officer in Durban and two Durban police stations refused to open an assault case.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 4 August 2014

Long walk to healthcare

Langa residents are complaining about the distance they have to walk to Bonteheuwel to access basic health care.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 4 August 2014

Firgrove residents want their land back

Two thousand residents removed forcefully from Firgrove, Somerset West, between 1971 and 1975 under the apartheid Group Areas Act, want their land back. ‘Blacks’ were moved to Mfuleni and ‘coloureds’ were moved to Macassar.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 4 August 2014

Tightrope walker says he was pushed off wire by city official

A Zimbabwean tightrope walker and musician claims that a City of Cape Town law enforcement officer pushed him off his tightrope in April, and that Camps Bay police have failed to respond.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 1 August 2014

Last night a community beat up two men, while the police watched

Two men in Nyanga were beaten very badly by about 50 members of their community, including children, after they were accused of housebreaking in the street they live in. The police stood and watched as they were beaten.

Pharie Sefali

News | 1 August 2014

Evicted student: All I could save was my backpack and ID

The only things college student Sisanda Mbayi could save before her shack was demolished last month were her backpack and ID, the ministerial inquiry into the Nomzamo (Lwandle) evictions heard yesterday.

Barbara Maregele

News | 1 August 2014

Parking marshals, unpaid for months, march on government

Around sixty of the CBD's parking marshals, who to have been "on strike" since October last year, marched on Western Cape Premier Helen Zille's offices at the provincial legislature yesterday.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 31 July 2014

29 foreign-owned shops targeted

A 37 year old Somali, Ahimenet Jamel was shot in his shop in Masiphumelele last Friday in an attempted robbery, bringing to at least 29 the number of attacks on foreign-owned shops in the Western Cape in the last three weeks.

Zintle Tia Swana

News | 31 July 2014