Families living in five state farms in Stellenbosch say they refuse to go anywhere after being handed eviction notices last month from the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works, saying they should leave their homes by end of August. The families are planning to march today to air their grievances.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 6 August 2015
It’s raining lightly and there’s a cold breeze as Isgak Abrahams and his two young children huddle inside the small makeshift tent they call home. The tent, built on an open field near the Kapteinsklip train station in Mitchells Plain, is made of three large blankets, cardboard boxes and plastic sheets, all held down by a few bricks.
Barbara Maregele
News | 3 August 2015
A year after their eviction from land owned by the SA National Roads Agency (SANRAL), some Lwandle residents say their possessions were never returned to them. But SANRAL says the goods were placed under the control of a community leader, and the agency is not to blame if residents did not get their belongings back.
GroundUp staff
News | 31 July 2015
Dozens of Metro Law Enforcement officers swooped on Wolwerivier relocation camp on Wednesday morning. They broke locks and ejected two households deemed to have occupied the municipal built structures unlawfully. Yet, a community leader has called this show of force an insult, citing the general lack of safety and protection for Wolwerivier's inhabitants.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 30 July 2015
Just this week alone six children have been referred to the Fikelela Children's Centre in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha. The institution’s head social worker, Kate Brydon, says the number of abandoned children being referred to Fikelela has risen.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 30 July 2015
Angry residents of the Tsunami informal settlement in Delft have accused the City and provincial government of playing games with them.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
News | 29 July 2015
“Residents of Blikkiesdorp do not trust the City [of Cape Town government],” says a Blikkiesdorp leader, Jerome Daniels. A meeting on Thursday night highlighted the ongoing tensions between this community and the City.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 27 July 2015
The homeless in Cape Town find refuge wherever they can and sometimes in the most surprising spaces. Where they sleep is often precarious and exposed to various hazards from bad weather and pollution to criminals or people who don't want them around. Although mostly transient, homeless people will often stay in the same place, wherever it is they have managed to carve out a shelter for themselves. Some homeless people have lived in a suburb or street for longer than many residents who live there in brick and mortar buildings.
Pictures by Masixole Feni.Text by Brent Meersman
News | 24 July 2015
Fifty-three year old Annacleta Zungu, who has only one leg, uses a plastic bag as a toilet at night because she is afraid to use the pit toilet outside her Pietermaritzburg house. Zungu, who is diabetic, lost her leg last year.
Ntombi Mbomvu
News | 22 July 2015
For the past few years, the old Jewish burial site located south of Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town has become a home to a number of homeless people.
Siphesihle Matyila
News | 16 July 2015
“I don’t know how it feels to be in a warm house without a leaking roof,” says Betha Mkhize, who is in her eighties and lives in Ezinketheni in Pietermaritzburg with her mentally disabled son.
Ntombi Ngubane
News | 15 July 2015
A group of anonymous street artists called Space Invader has claimed responsibility for “reinterpreting” the mural in District Six along De Waal Drive near Cape Town city centre.
Barbara Maregele
News | 15 July 2015
Forty-three year old Patrick Brewer from Henley in Pietermaritzburg has been living in a tiny shed the size of a toilet for 14 years.
Ntombi Ngubane
News | 10 July 2015
A retired farmworker and his family who were evicted from their home on Langdam farm in Montagu last year are entitled to move back to their farmhouse, the Land Claims court in Cape Town ruled this week.
Barbara Maregele
News | 3 July 2015
Tsunami Informal Settlement near Delft in Cape Town is a severely deprived area. Residents have been expecting to be moved to a better area, but it appears their hopes have been dashed.
Nombulelo Damba-HendrikMasixole Feni
News | 3 July 2015
Law enforcement is removing homeless people who have been living alongside the Liesbeek River below Valkenberg. The homeless claim they are being harassed and their belongings are taken and destroyed by officers of the law. Many have already left the area and others say they are planning to leave.
Pharie Sefali
News | 25 June 2015