Opinion

Women and addiction: a much neglected problem

Mother’s Day has come and gone with the usual emphasis on happy mothers, loving families and children bringing breakfast in bed to their moms. For many this picture is a good reflection of what happens at home. But for some mothers this picture is far from accurate.

Adrienne Dodds

Opinion | 1 June 2015

An old lesson to which all should pay heed

“No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent.” So wrote the English poet, John Donne although, for continent he meant planet. Today, this is something that can be applied equally to a village, town, country or continent. Just as it can be to a trade union, business or employer organisation.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 1 June 2015

City spends hundreds of millions of rand on informal settlement sanitation: a response to the SJC

The latest in a string of articles by the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), disseminating inaccurate and misleading information, further warps the facts and the realities within which the City of Cape Town must operate. But then, the SJC never let the facts get in the way of the pretty graphics that they have begun to share widely with such gusto.

Ernest Sonnenberg

Opinion | 29 May 2015

City chooses not to invest in informal settlements

The City of Cape Town says infrastructure for water and sanitation cannot be installed in 82% of informal settlements because the land is not suitable. Yet the City’s own data tells a different story, writes Dustin Kramer.

Dustin Kramer

Opinion | 28 May 2015

Progress in public sector wage negotiations, but key issues remain unresolved

My column last week, comparing the pay and conditions of nurses and teachers to those of cabinet ministers, seems to have touched a raw nerve. And mainly among both national and local government employees that I failed to mention.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 25 May 2015

Why mining communities will take government to court

Mining companies and the government are ignoring the interests of the communities that should be benefiting from mining, writes the author. Now civil society organisations intend to take legal action.

Christopher Rutledge

Opinion | 21 May 2015

Operation Fiela: Sweeping Dignity Aside

Just under a month ago today, South Africa was shocked by the images on the cover of the Sunday Times on 19 April 2015. The images depicted Emmanuel Sithole, a Mozambican man and breadwinner for his family, lying on his back amongst rubbish as he pleaded with three men bearing knives standing above him, moments before they fatally stabbed him in cold blood.

Lara Wallis

Opinion | 18 May 2015

Extraordinary wage inequality among those paid with public money

South Africa is desperately short of nurses and many highly skilled practitioners are now over the age of 50 and nearing retirement. Yet there are estimated to be more than 30,000 South African nurses working abroad, everywhere from Dubai to Dublin.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 18 May 2015

“What is your business in Council?” - My experience trying to participate in the City of Cape Town’s budget

Every year the mayor calls for residents to participate in the budget process by making submissions on Cape Town's draft budget. Last year fewer than forty people wrote submissions and only 23 were from the public. This has been the trend for the last couple of years.

Axolile Notywala

Opinion | 14 May 2015