Opinion
Khayelitsha cops: “We are the whipping boys”
While the Marikana hearings drift through the doldrums in Rustenberg, at Khayelitsha’s Lookout Hill another commission into police failings is cautiously gathering momentum. The O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry is a timely and consolatory reminder of the judicial efficiency South Africa is capable of.
Richard Conyngham
Opinion | 22 April 2014
COSATU schisms make for a rocky road
We are in the midst of all the usual fanfare, the pledges, promises, rows and contradictions that accompany any run-up to a major election. But the scheduled national poll on 7 May seems to be beset by more bickering, bitterness and fragmentation than normal — and this is a clear portent for the future.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 22 April 2014
What’s that you say … human-whats?
Nearly two decades into our democracy, for most people living in South Africa our Constitution might as well be written in Latin, because it is more than likely that they have never read it.
Tim Fish Hodgson and Tawana Nharingo
Opinion | 17 April 2014
Where to for Cape Town Pride?
At a meeting on 12 April convened by Ikasi Pride, members of a divided gay and lesbian community discussed the future of gay pride in the city, its steady depoliticisation, its lack of community outreach and its image problem.
Brent Meersman
Opinion | 15 April 2014
A year of compulsory community service for new teachers?
On April Fool’s day, GroundUp published a story which claimed that government had made it compulsory for teacher graduates to provide their services in non-model C government schools for one year.
Joshua Maserow
Opinion | 15 April 2014
Still seeking fairness on the farms
Farm employer organisation AgriSA last week met with trade union representatives in an effort to strike a deal to allow unionisation on farms — and especially in the winelands of the Western Cape. “Most farmers still will not allow union representatives onto their properties,” says Federation of Unions (Fedusa) general secretary Dennis George.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 14 April 2014
Kramer has it wrong says City
Paul Boughey, chief of staff to the executive mayor of Cape Town, takes issue with Dustin Kramer's article on GroundUp.
Paul Boughey
Opinion | 9 April 2014
Mobile phone rates and putting people before profits
You’ve probably heard the news that MTN and Vodacom have gone to court to stop new regulations. The court ruled that the regulations should go head. What does this mean for the people’s right to communicate?
John Haffner
Opinion | 8 April 2014
Strike focus must be on jobs, not wages
A crunch point has this week been reached in the platinum sector. Stockpiles are all but exhausted and striking miners are starving. In normal circumstances this would be the time when compromise is reached, a matter of who blinks first.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 8 April 2014