Government

Philippi livestock farmer can’t find land

A Philippi family is desperately looking for somewhere to keep their goats and sheep after being told they can no longer keep them in the area they have farmed for ten years.

Siyavuya Khaya

News | 20 October 2015

Masiphumelele residents march for peace

Over 500 residents marched and sang through the streets of Masiphumelele on Sunday in a march for peace organised by the Masiphumelele Youth Development Forum (MYDF). The march comes after weeks of violence, including murders and rapes, incidents of mob justice, a march for more policing that turned violent, and after residents held a prayer service on Thursday for a better community.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 20 October 2015

Khayelitsha activists want answers from Nhleko

Police Minister Nathi Nhleko addressed over a thousand people at an Imbizo in the Khayelitsha Stadium on Saturday. He accused the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into Policing of being politically motivated. Earlier at the same meeting, ANC Western Cape head Marius Fransman, made the same accusation.

GroundUp staff and Bernard Chiguvare

Brief | 19 October 2015

Social grants: state decides not to award tender

In 2012 South Africa’s social grant and pension payment system changed in two important ways: Firstly, administration and payment was outsourced by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to a single private company called Cash Paymaster Services (CPS); secondly, and as a result, all social grants began to be paid directly into specifically-created bank accounts for every beneficiary.

Ben Stanwix

News | 16 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

“Why we don’t do maths” - high school students explain

At the end of grade nine South African students are expected to decide which subjects they would like to continue with for the rest of high school. One of the important decisions they make is whether or not they will continue with maths, or take maths literacy. As five students explain, the decision is tough, affects their future, and is not always made freely and based on their true ability and interests.

Sarita Pillay

Feature | 9 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: The good, the bad and the confusing

For millions of South Africans, the monthly social grants -- mostly pensions and child support -- are the difference between survival and starvation.

GroundUp Staff

News | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: Sassa’s bid to stop illegal deductions

Every month, money is deducted from the accounts of hundreds of beneficiaries of social grants without their permission. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is working to get the money refunded. But according to the Black Sash, the system Sassa has set up does not work.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: Net1 - the company that runs the grant payment system

The South African government’s massive social security payment system is managed by a subsidiary of Net1, a company listed on stock exchanges in the United States and Johannesburg.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: How grants are used to back loans

Some social grant beneficiaries are so deeply in debt that much of each month’s grant goes to paying back a loan.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: How the system works

It’s 6:30am on a cold Wednesday morning and about 50 people, mostly women with babies, are already queuing outside the South African Social Security Agency office in the Delft library to apply for their child support grants.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Life-saving drug stopped by sole supplier

South Africa is running out of an essential medicine for treating very sick patients with tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant bacterial infections. Many hospitals are already out of stock.

GroundUp Staff

News | 5 October 2015

Bonteheuwel residents and Mayor De Lille trade accusations

Some Bonteheuwel residents who attended a public meeting addressed by Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille last night allege she told them to "voetsek" and other insults. The meeting descended into chaos at one point, and the versions of what happened that have been published by the mayor and a residents' group contradict each other.

GroundUp Staff and Bernard Chiguvare

News | 2 October 2015