From the German cut to the razor cut and from dreadlocks to braids, men and women in Cape Town’s townships have plenty of imagination when it comes to trending hairstyles.
Photos by Masixole FeniText by Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 14 August 2015
On 13 August 2015, Potchefstroom police station cells security officer Buisanang Malefane told GroundUp on the phone that Malvern and Hamilton Mugwagwa, who are in their custody, have no right to appear before a magistrate because they are unlawfully in the country. They were arrested on 5 August 2015 at a roadblock in Potchefstroom on their way from Cape Town back to Zimbabwe.
Tariro Washinyira
Brief | 14 August 2015
There is a deepening crisis of overcrowding, joblessness, insecurity and general destitution at Wolwerivier relocation camp. The community have explained their experiences, along with a call for engagement and support, in writing to the City of Cape Town. Their letter was ignored.
Daneel Knoetze
Opinion | 14 August 2015
Evictions are a daily part of living on the margins in South Africa. This week, residents were evicted from a block of flats in Berea, Johannesburg. Authorities descended early on Wednesday morning on the flats where hundreds are people are living. Their personal belongings – including fridges, clothes and computers – were left outside in the street. Where do such people go? In Cape Town, they have been sent to a place called Blikkiesdorp.
Alison Tilley
Opinion | 13 August 2015
When Zandisile Khobeni (61) received a letter showing that his housing subsidy application had been approved in 2011, he was over the moon with joy. He didn't know that four years later he would still be waiting for a house, even as the other people in his street received their RDP houses.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
News | 13 August 2015
The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) and Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) have called for the resignation or dismissal of national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, saying she has failed the people of Khayelitsha and poor people in South Africa as a whole.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 12 August 2015
Residents in Khayelitsha came out in their numbers at the weekend to celebrate the donation of a wheelchair and food parcel to a father and daughter who have epilepsy.
Pharie Sefali
News | 12 August 2015
The National Credit Regulator has referred financial company Moneyline to the National Consumer Tribunal for reckless lending to recipients of child grants.
Pharie Sefali
News | 12 August 2015
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has promised to register all Dunoon students who are yet to be placed in schools by tomorrow (Wednesday, 12 August).
Barbara Maregele
News | 11 August 2015
Every year as August dawns there is a media ritual about women’s rights and, on August 9, a positive rash of declarations of intent and remembrances about the 1956 anti-pass march of the women on Union Buildings. But while institutionalised apartheid has gone, the position of women in South Africa and around the world remains demonstrably unequal and, in some cases is worse now than it was 20 or more years ago.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 11 August 2015
“I was walking at 5am to catch a taxi to go to work. Three people with their faces covered surrounded me and put me in the middle,” says Robert Makhoza, a resident of Masiphumelele.
Thembela Ntongana
News | 11 August 2015
Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega has “denied, disputed or redirected to the [Western Cape Provincial Government and City of Cape Town]” every recommendation of the O’Regan Commission of Inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha.
GroundUp Staff and Bernard Chiguvare
News | 7 August 2015
About 100 people gathered in front of parliament today to say “enough is enough” to government corruption as the deadline is reached for the submission by the parliamentary ad hoc committee on Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko’s report which said that President Jacob Zuma does not have to pay back the money he used for security upgrades to his Nkandla home.
Siphesihle Matyila and Brady Nevins
News | 7 August 2015
Fifteen years ago, Sandra Dreyer was forced to leave her job as an educator after she lost her sight to age-related macular degeneration. Today, she is the head of the Training, Education and Development department at the Cape Town Society for the Blind (CTSB).
Brady Nevins and Barbara Maregele
News | 7 August 2015
Scientists, economists, policy makers and child-rights advocates agree: there is growing scientific evidence that investment in early childhood development is the most cost-effective route to the sustainable development of children and their communities.
Patricia Martin
Opinion | 7 August 2015