Economy

Khayelitsha entrepeneur spots a gap in the market

GroundUp spoke to Sipho Mfengwana, owner of Faku Tasty Chicken in Khayelitsha.

Mihle Pike

News | 12 December 2012

Young Mowbray fashion designer sells clothes on Facebook

Kayla Kim Meiring is the founder of Fro, a company that started off selling vintage clothing but now sells Meiring's own homespun popular clothes.

Margo Fortune and Nokubonga Yawa

News | 5 December 2012

Farm workers prepare for general strike

The Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) is preparing for a general strike from 4 December.

Tessa Gooding

Brief | 28 November 2012

Young entrepeneur delivers medicines in Khayelitsha

Sizwe Nzima is just 21 years old but he has already co-founded a business called Iyeza Express that delivers chronic medicines by bike to patients who are unable to stand in long queues at clinic pharmacies.

Mihle Pike

News | 21 November 2012

Altercation highlights farm tensions

An argument between a farmer and two employees has spiralled out of control. The story shows the kinds of problems fuelling the current farm tensions in the Western Cape.

Tessa Gooding and Margo Fortune

News | 21 November 2012

Farmer accused of cutting electricity and food credit to break strike

Seventy employees at Leeuwenkuil Farm refused to work for five days until five of their colleagues were reinstated, according to the Commerical Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU).

Tessa Gooding

News | 21 November 2012

“This project has changed our lives in a big way. We now have the opportunity to work and run our own businesses.”

Township is a non-profit organisation that is creating jobs and providing opportunities for people living in Cape Town’s townships.

Janine Fortuin

News | 21 November 2012

Groot Constantia workers complain of unfair treatment

Its fine wines are known around the world and the City Sightseeing bus takes regular journeys through its beautiful grounds beneath Table Mountain. But the community who live and work at Groot Constantia estate say that the charitable trust that owns the farm pays female vineyard workers less than their male counterparts. They also accuse management of reducing their benefits.

Tessa Gooding

News | 14 November 2012

Scuffles breaks out in Delft over SASSA meal vouchers

Hundreds of residents queued outside Delft library last week Wednesday in the hope of receiving one of 25 SASSA meal vouchers.

Mihle Pike

News | 14 November 2012

Local businesses move against Somali shops in Khayelitsha

Town Two Khayelitsha is the site of tension between a local business association and Somali shops. The Zanokhanyo Business Association (ZBA) is accusing Somali shop owners of not abiding by a 2008 agreement which says that no new foreign owned shops should operate in the townships following the May 2008 xenophobic attacks.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 7 November 2012

Still dealing with symptoms rather than causes

By tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, October 20) it should become clear whether
Britain is about to join the growing tide of European rebellion against economic
austerity that has become particularly vociferous and violent in Greece and Spain.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 24 October 2012

Khayelitsha’s first coffee shop soldiers on

It has been three months since three young guys from Khayelitsha opened the first coffee shop in the township. Since then it has only got better.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 10 October 2012

The mining industry strike wave: what are the causes and what are the solutions?

In this important paper, Gavin Hartford analyses the root causes of the mining industry strikes and proposes solutions.

Gavin Hartford

Opinion | 10 October 2012

Tougher times ahead as tensions ratchet up in Europe

In a world wracked by ongoing economic crises, what is the role of trade unions? And if they focus
solely on “bread and butter issues”, are they, as National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba
Seshoka says, doomed to fail because “broader policies are shaped at a political level”.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 10 October 2012

Working for food at age 14

Sbu Jakavula is 14 years old. He lives in Du Noon township. He does not go to school. Instead he sells furniture from an informal stand.

Nokubonga Yawa

News | 3 October 2012

Cold war echoes and trade union reform

Both the Cold War and the bitter battles between communists and social democrats in
Germany of the Thirties found an echo at the 11th Cosatu national congress in
Midrand last week; an echo that is now being assessed by labour organisations and
activists around the world.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 3 October 2012