Politics and personal ambition compounded by some sloppy journalism have clouded and confused the issues surrounding the bitter internecine feud within Cosatu and the governing ANC-led alliance. This has also confused the legitimate complaints that teachers have about the state of education in South Africa and the way the system is being administered.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 30 April 2013
Hugo Chavez’s chosen successor Nicolas Maduro, has scraped through with a lead of 240,000 votes against the opposition of Henrique Capriles. Maduro is to lead the Venezuelan state in continuing the program of social reforms known as the Bolivarian Missions, where the state after nationalising the oil company, used that revenue for the betterment of the poorest sectors of society. Health care, housing and education are made available through the Missions.
Selby Nomnganga
Opinion | 24 April 2013
I am Sfiso Nkala. I am 40 years old and I live in Stanger in Kwazulu-Natal. I have been unemployed since 2008. As I write this I am at home thinking about how I will get to town to apply for the job I saw advertised in the newspaper. I know that once I ask someone to lend me money for transport then I have to pay it back.
Sfiso Nkala
Opinion | 24 April 2013
Today GroundUp received this short message from Palesa Faith, a high school learner in the Eastern Cape.
Palesa Faith
Opinion | 17 April 2013
Can the Internet and its endless opportunities for communication, debate, information, and knowledge give a voice to those who go un-heard in regards to social and political change? and how can its beneficial resources be used by those who do not have access to the Internet?
Andiswa Hala, Jonathan Dockney, Mary Fawzi, Nkosikhona Swartbooi
Opinion | 17 April 2013
From a trade union viewpoint, Margaret Thatcher will never be mourned. But her impact on global politics and economics cannot be denied. She rode the crest of a wave of liberal economic policies that swamped the consensual balance of the post World War Two years. In the process, she highlighted as few have done before or since, the inherently hostile relationship between labour and capital.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 12 April 2013
A treaty that has the potential to change the lives of millions of blind people is at risk of being hijacked by publishers who show no sympathy for the difficulties faced by blind people across the world
Marcus Low
Opinion | 10 April 2013
BRICS has come and gone. It has been driven from the headlines by Jacob Zuma using the hopes and aspirations of the millions who vote for the ANC as a means to enrich his narrow circle of crony capitalists through misuse of the SANDF in the Central African Republic. But before the memory of BRICS fades, let's remember the B in BRICS is for Brazil, a country with which South Africa is often compared.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 3 April 2013
On a cold afternoon in July 2010, a group of us met in Newtown to
distribute pamphlets around the Johannesburg CBD and hotspots of the
2008 "xenophobic" attacks, such as Diepsloot etc. We were only about
twelve, so we had to break into groups of four.
Malaika Mahlatsi
Opinion | 3 April 2013
This is the first in a series of articles by Jack Lewis which puts forward ideas to start a discussion on the need for a programme which can unify the work which many great campaigning organisations are doing.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 27 March 2013
The causes of the poor and the dispossessed continue to be manipulated by politicians
and unscrupulous individuals bent on accumulating power, personal wealth or both.
As a result, there is much cynical use and distortion of the evidence and of statements
emanating from painful occurrences such as the deaths at Marikana or the conflict in
the Boland winelands.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 27 March 2013
On the 15th of March Jared Sacks, a journalist and activist, published an article in the Mail & Guardian asking whether or not Steve Biko, the Steve Biko of 1977, would have supported Mamphele Ramphele’s recent political initiative. Some people, including people who had been close to Biko, really liked the piece. Others, including the well-known public commentator Andile Mngxitama, didn’t like it at all.
Zackie Achmat and Richard Pithouse
Opinion | 27 March 2013
South Africa’s annual wage bargaining — some say, strike — season has begun. In a
series of conferences this week, the various sides got together to decide on their
strategies and to plan the tactics they intend to follow as the hard talking gets
underway.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 20 March 2013
This is an edited version of remarks made by Doron Isaacs at an event hosted by the UCT Palestine Solidarity Forum for Israel Apartheid Week 2013. The other panelists, who spoke prior to Isaacs, were Professor Andrew Nash and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 15 March 2013
It was International Women’s Day (IWD) on Friday. And it seemed an appropriate
time for a reminder about the labour movement origins of the day and of its noble
aims and egalitarian promise. This because several recent studies reveal that the
female half of humanity is once again bearing the brunt of the global economic crisis.
After all, when it began in 1910, IWD was rich with the promise of equality.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 13 March 2013
The Expanded Public Works Programme aims to create millions of short-term jobs every year while also providing the county with much needed infrastructure such as roads, hospitals and schools in areas that need it.
Amelia Midgley
Opinion | 13 March 2013