Government

City responds to GroundUp on Valhalla Park protests

The City's Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services writes that the electrification project at Agstelaan in Valhalla Park has been halted for periods of time due to excessive and highly dangerous gang violence in the area.

Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg

News | 27 August 2014

Eight months without electricity: Valhalla residents protest

Residents of 8th Lane in Valhalla Park protested along Robert Sobukwe Drive after being without electricity for eight months despite Mayor Patricia De Lille making them firm pre-election promises.

Armand Hough

Brief | 27 August 2014

Good causes left to die waiting for lotto millions

In its 15 years of existence, the National Lotteries’ Board (NLB) has disbursed more than R18 billion to good causes, according to Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies. However, the 2013 annual report indicates that while 5,455 applications were adjudicated in the year, 10,928 applications were still outstanding as of 31 March 2013. 7,500 of those are applications from charities.

Katy Scott

News | 7 August 2014

Evicted student: All I could save was my backpack and ID

The only things college student Sisanda Mbayi could save before her shack was demolished last month were her backpack and ID, the ministerial inquiry into the Nomzamo (Lwandle) evictions heard yesterday.

Barbara Maregele

News | 1 August 2014

Premier called “racist girl” as tensions flare at Lwandle inquiry

Tensions flared during the second half of the Lwandle inquiry yesterday after Ses’khona leader Loyiso Nkohla referred to Western Cape Premier Helen Zille as a “racist girl”. The remark prompted an infuriated DA staffer, Jamie Turkington, to interject during Nkohla’s presentation.

Barbara Maregele

News | 22 July 2014

“Police were firing and I ran for cover”

An eye-witness to the eviction of hundreds of Nomzamo residents in June described the “chaotic” scene to the ministerial inquiry this morning.

Barbara Maregele

News | 15 July 2014

Lwandle inquiry begins

The ministerial inquiry into the eviction of hundreds of informal settlement residents in Nomzamo near Lwandle Strand began today.

Barbara Maregele

News | 14 July 2014

Judgment next week in Ses’khona case

Judgment will be delivered on 18 July in the case of Andile Lili and six others charged after the “poo protests” in the city in June 2013.

Pharie Sefali

Brief | 11 July 2014

Informal vendors unhappy with City’s proposed trading plans

A 38-year-old fruit vendor in the city centre says it is not clear if he will be benefiting from the City of Cape Town’s proposed plan to allocate new trading bays.

Barbara Maregele

News | 2 July 2014

Workers say Metrorail endangers their livelihoods and lives

Every morning at the TCI Apparel factory in Epping, shop steward Mymoena Williams writes down the names of the textile workers who arrive late. In this notebook are entire pages filled with employees being late for the same reason: the trains.

Joy Shan

News | 30 June 2014

The social catastrophe that threatens South Africa

The South African economy is facing a rocky period. But don’t blame the platinum strike or the union or workers involved. That labour dispute was a symptom, not the cause, of problems that had developed outside of the control of the workers.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 30 June 2014

Protests at State of the Nation address

Over 50 protesters huddled behind barricades outside parliament on 17 June before President Jacob Zuma arrived to deliver the State of the Nation address that opened South Africa’s fifth parliament.

Lara Sokoloff

News | 18 June 2014

Miserable day for people who lost homes, but baby rumoured to be dead is alive

It’s cold and raining in Cape Town tonight. Ice particles formed on the ground outside the Nomzamo Community Hall in Strand where hundreds of residents, whose homes were demolished over the last two days, are sheltering.

Pharie Sefali and GroundUp staff

News | 4 June 2014

Videos from Strand demolitions

Here are two short video clips from the demolitions of people's homes that took place in Strand yesterday.

Adam Armstrong

News | 4 June 2014

Community desperate as their homes are demolished

Hundreds of people were left homeless at Nomzamo settlement in Strand on Tuesday. Shacks were smashed down while their owners watched.

Pharie Sefali and Adam Armstrong

News | 4 June 2014

Accusations fly as Strand homes demolished

“The law is the law” said a spokesman for the South African National Road Agency Limited (SANRAL) yesterday as hundreds were left homeless in the rain after the demolition of their shacks on SANRAL-owned land near Strand.

Barbara Maregele and Adam Armstrong

Feature | 4 June 2014