South Africa's social grant system is sometimes criticised as financially unsustainable and fueling dependency, but people such as Maureen Philander from Delft provide an example of how social assistance can transform lives. She shares her story with us.
Maureen Philander
Opinion | 6 March 2013
Angie Motshekga is in an ebullient mood. On Tuesday at Parliament she told the media that South African education is on an upward trajectory, characterized by focus, consistency and clarity. Fine. Nothing wrong with a bit of positive thinking.
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 5 March 2013
The 2014 election campaign has clearly begun and promises to be long and almost
certainly very bitter. Labour relations — and relations with labour — are likely to be
in the forefront, with Cosatu, as a member of the governing tripartite allliance, in the
thick of it.
Opinion | 27 February 2013
Do you want to buy a firearm for protection? Many people do because of the high rate of violent crime in South Africa. But is it sensible? Will a gun make you more secure or will it put you and your loved ones in greater danger?
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 27 February 2013
In stygian depths 4km and more below the surface of the earth gold continues to be
harvested, but by fewer miners and with the aid of more—and increasingly efficient—mechanisation.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 20 February 2013
The government has loosed off the first major salvoes of the 2014 election campaign
— and all of them have backfired. That is one labour movement view of three
official announcements over the past ten days.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 13 February 2013
Yet another shack fire has devastated the BM section of Khayelitsha. On New Years morning fires raged through the community, leaving about 4,000 people homeless and killing at least four. The responses from authorities to what has now become a routine occurrence in the area have been mixed.
Ben Fogel
Opinion | 13 February 2013
Yesterday, exactly 40 years ago, the modern trade union movement arrived on the
South African scene. Its birth was heralded by a wave of strikes in Durban that had
gestated over 22 days from the time 2,000 workers at Coronation Brick and Tile
downed tools.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 5 February 2013
The Auditor-General’s (AG) report on the use of consultants and contractors demonstrates some very important facts. It shows that government is operating in an environment where financial and other controls are lacking. This not only creates an atmosphere in which corruption blossoms, but also allows for those contractors appointed in good faith to take chances and not perform their contractual obligations properly.
Daniel Hofmeyr and Zackie Achmat
Opinion | 30 January 2013
This is an open letter sent this morning by Doron Isaacs to Radio 786. In it, he explains why he refuses to be interviewed by the station.
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 30 January 2013
Hundreds of farmworkers in the De Doorns area have been fired after the end of the farmworkers strike in the area on 22 January. The strike had been called off by COSATU the week before, but the seemingly dominant union in the area, the Bawsi Agriculture Workers Union of South Africa (Bawusa), suspended the strike days later. Clashes between police and protesters resulted in at least one death, many injuries and 181 arrests of striking farmworkers.
Ben Fogel
Opinion | 30 January 2013
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille is correct in claiming that there is
political interference in the strikes and recurrent violence in the Boland. And the
DA is as responsible as any other political grouping for being involved in — or
“interfering” — in the ongoing upheaval.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 23 January 2013
Last week GroundUp and the Cape Times published Doron Isaacs's detailed account of his repeated but unsuccessful attempts to have authorities repair dysfunctional streetlights in Khayelitsha.
Gavin Silber
Opinion | 23 January 2013
I first heard of the National Press Club (NPC) via twitter when the news that they had declared the rhino the newsmaker of 2012 hit social media. My immediate reaction, probably like many other journalists was a mixture of surprise and anger: How could the rhino emerge as victor in the year of Marikana?
Ben Fogel
Opinion | 22 January 2013
I work every day in Khayelitsha. From time to time I am there at night, usually to drop somebody at home after a meeting or social event. In the daytime I am as good as any taxi driver at avoiding the potholes that litter the streets. At nights it’s not so simple.
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 16 January 2013
South Africa has continued to fail the children of the poor and is once again reaping
the results of that failure. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recurrent violent
eruptions in the fruit and wine farm regions of the Western Cape.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 16 January 2013