Management of the R60 million Langa Junction complex has promised to make information available to angry residents who have complained about a lack of transparency in the building and leasing of the 5,000 square metre space.
Pharie Sefali and Nombulelo Damba
News | 14 April 2015
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), campaigning groups and labour supporting members of the European parliament this month launched protests about the continued harassment and jailing of trade unionists and democracy campaigners in Swaziland. ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow has noted that, in Swaziland, “Violations against the fundamental rights of workers have become systemic.”
Terry Bell
Opinion | 13 April 2015
Nearly six months ago Helena Davids was coerced into taking out additional life cover by an agent representing the 1Life company.
Barbara Maregele
News | 13 April 2015
A Land Claims Court judge could opt to jail the Director-General of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mdu Shabane, for contempt of court. Such a decision, however, may still be too late for Zabalaza Mshengu, who turned 101 in January, and has waited 14 years for his claim to land as a labour tenant to be processed. The case also raises uncomfortable questions about how far government will go to push judicial tolerance in order to avoid implementing constitutional rights.
Donna Hornby
Opinion | 13 April 2015
Michael is a Zimbabwean asylum seeker who is struggling to put food on the table for his family. His situation became worse in 2014 when his 14-year-old girl fell pregnant after she was allegedly raped by his 43-year-old friend. She delivered a baby boy on 11 March 2015.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 10 April 2015
About 100 supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) marched around Khayelitsha calling on backyard dwellers to occupy land belonging to private owners.
Nombulelo Damba
News | 10 April 2015
Equal Education’s recently concluded sleep-in protests in three cities have shown how disturbingly difficult it has become to hold legal protests, even for organisations fortunate enough to have access to resources and legal expertise.
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 10 April 2015
Walking through the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in Bridgetown, Athlone, is like walking through a hospital for humans - bare walls, corridors, operating rooms. Except, that is, for the barking and for the smell of dogs.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 9 April 2015
Whiteboy and Tupac are chilling on a bench in New Canada station before their usual high-octane commute to school. Whiteboy, aged 18 and in grade 11 at a former model C school in Jozi, wears a striped T-shirt, shorts and brown suede shoes. He’s smoking Dunhill Courtleigh blends. His “macala” (friend) Tupac is a year younger, with short hair, neat in school rig and black toughees (school shoes) with red laces, high as a kite on weed, with sleepy red eyes. Their excited schoolgirl fans can’t wait to see the action.
Mosa Damane
Feature | 9 April 2015
There was chaos in Khayelitsha on Wednesday with battles between police and residents occupying land, and shops being looted. Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Khayelitsha have distanced themselves from the looting, but residents say it was led by people wearing EFF T-shirts and berets.
Text by Nombulelo Damba. Photos by Masixole Feni.
Feature | 9 April 2015
Is the University of Cape Town (UCT) transforming? What does transformation mean? In a series of articles GroundUp provides the key facts and arguments on the main points of contention facing South Africa’s oldest tertiary institution.
GroundUp Staff
Feature | 9 April 2015
The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) has asked the Mayor for a plan to deal with sanitation in informal settlements. We have a plan – one that has already been and continues to be implemented as part of this administration’s commitment to making this a city that delivers services to all our residents. Perhaps that is why so many people flock here from other parts of the country every year. After all, no one packs up their family and leaves their hometown for a worse life!
Ian Neilson
Opinion | 8 April 2015
Khayelitsha residents who applied for funds from the Khayelitsha Motsepe Foundation in 2013 might have to wait months for the money, says the head of the Motsepe Foundation in the Western Cape, Steve Mashalane.
Nombulelo Damba
Feature | 8 April 2015
A manager at cleaning company Pronto Kleen has been charged with fraud after allegedly inflating employees’ working hours and claiming the extra money for herself.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 8 April 2015