Capricorn residents accuse taxi association of inciting violence

Violence over taxi routes erupted in Cape Town’s South Peninsula yesterday morning. The South Africa Police Service (SAPS) reports that a 59-year-old taxi driver and his 20-year-old assistant were shot dead at about 5:30am this morning in Seawinds.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 15 October 2015

Court hears whether silicosis miners can bring class action

Lawyers for the mining companies have begun to set out their case in the South Gauteng High Court, which is hearing an application from mineworkers to be allowed to claim for damages due to exposure to silica dust on behalf of a bigger group of affected mineworkers.

Lwandile Fikeni and GroundUp staff

News | 15 October 2015

Masiphumelele to get more policing

Following weeks of protests demanding better policing, and a number of incidents of mob justice, a satellite police station will be opened in Masiphumelele, and seven new constables have begun working in the area.

Pasqua Heard

News | 15 October 2015

Mine workers desperate in remote west coast town

Thembela Nkwalase, a single mother of five, has been employed as a cleaner at the Australian-owned Tormin mineral sand mine on the west coast since December last year.

Barbara Maregele

News | 15 October 2015

Small turnout at anti-corruption protest

The protest against corruption organised by the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) at Nomzamo Stadium in Strand today drew only about 100 people.

Bernard Chiguvare

Brief | 14 October 2015

Social grants deadline: Black Sash to hold silent protest

The Black Sash has urged the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to fix the flaws in the social grants system as a new contractor is appointed to replace Cash Paymaster Services.

Pasqua Heard

Brief | 14 October 2015

Land conference hears stories of hope and despair

Communities struggling for adequate housing should do their own surveys of what they need, members of various communities told the land justice conference in Cape Town on 13 October.

Barbara Maregele and Ashleigh Furlong

News | 14 October 2015

Use the law, not violence, say activists at land conference

People facing eviction needed knowledge of the laws and their rights, a member of the South Road community told the urban land justice colloquium on 13 October.

Barbara Maregele and Ashleigh Furlong

News | 14 October 2015

Sick miners in court for landmark silicosis case

Bangumzi Balakazi, from Peddie in the Eastern Cape, was among the former gold miners sitting in the South Gauteng High Court this week as the landmark silicosis court case got underway.

Lwandile Fikeni and GroundUp staff

News | 14 October 2015

“A struggling old lady who sleeps like a bird,

Grace Mkhize, 78, lives with three orphaned granddaughters and their three children in a mud house in Willowfontein, Pietermaritzburg. For seven years she has been waiting for a new house.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 13 October 2015

A day in the life of a hairdresser

Loud reggae, pop and kwaito are some of the genres of music that compete with each other as you wander through the market at Cape Town central station taxi rank. Customers bustle through the rows of white container stalls, selling cheap snacks, fashionable clothing, haircuts and more. Among the many women entrepreneurs offering beauty services in the market is Odette Motema. She runs a hair and nail salon.

Text by Pasqua HeardPhotos by Juliette Garms

News | 13 October 2015

Parents want Parliament Primary school principal dismissed

Parents of children at Parliament Primary School, Mfuleni, set up to accommodate children who had been learning in a tent, have demanded that the principal be dismissed.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 13 October 2015

The Piketty puzzle: reproducing inequality in everyday life

While the government earnestly pledges its commitment to reversing inequality, it reproduces inequality in the normal behaviour it expects for itself and the broader elite of South Africa’s political-economy. Two recent and very public events illustrate these opposing positions.

Jeff Rudin

Opinion | 13 October 2015

New technology to help diagnose hearing disability

Software developed by University of Pretoria researchers could bring cheaper hearing tests to South Africa's rural areas. The hearScreen technology, which has been patented and is in the process of being licensed, can turn any smartphone into an audiometer to test people's hearing.

Sarah Wild

News | 13 October 2015

Bonteheuwel backyarder eager for City services

Bonteheuwel resident Qasin Khan and his family have been living in a small informal home in his mother's backyard for nearly 10 years.

Barbara Maregele

News | 12 October 2015

Abortion stigma harms thousands of young women

Many South African women are still resorting to unsafe abortions with illegal providers, often with disastrous implications even though safe legal abortion has been available since 1997.

Thembela Ntongana

Feature | 12 October 2015