Human Rights

Police fire rubber bullets in city centre

A man was injured when police fired rubber bullets at a crowd of about a thousand asylum seekers earlier today at the Home Affairs Temporary Refugee Centre on Cape Town’s foreshore. Witnesses say that a nine-month-old baby was also injured.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 27 November 2014

Organisations allege dreadful conditions at Pollsmoor awaiting trial facility

Lack of mattresses, a leaking roof, lack of hot water and insufficient access to medical treatment: Pollsmoor’s facility for awaiting trial prisoners has been slammed by civil society organisations for what they call “several concerns regarding conditions of detention at the facility.”

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 27 November 2014

“You see yourself vanishing and you think: I’m going to die”

Andaleeb Rinquest remembers the moment she accepted, with certainty, the imminence of her own death.

Daneel Knoetze

Feature | 26 November 2014

Sentence hearing for Angy Peter begins

This week, witnesses began testifying in the sentencing hearing of Angy Peter, Isaac Mbadu, Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 25 November 2014

Dead man left to “cook” in sun for hours

Mahlubandile Mdingi lay dead for seven hours on a street corner in Bardale extension, Mfuleni, before the health department’s pathology services took his body away.

Johnnie Isaac and GroundUp staff

News | 25 November 2014

Abuse allegations against Philippi farmer

Thirteen workers from a farm in Philippi have accused their employer of contract breaches, unfair dismissal and abuse. But farm owner Edgar Meyer denies the allegations, and says that the proper dismissal process was followed.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 24 November 2014

Ebola: the difficult return from the front

The health care workers who put their lives at risk to fight Ebola should be honoured, not quarantined, writes Kathryn Stinson, who recently returned from Sierra Leone.

Kathryn Stinson

Opinion | 20 November 2014

Link between poor housing, traffic deaths and education outcomes

The 7th annual Irene Grootboom Memorial Dialogues, which explore the continuation of Cape Town’s “spatial apartheid”, are underway. On Tuesday night, the focus was on the spate of shack evictions around the city this year, and the correlation between poor, densely populated areas and traffic deaths and education outcomes.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 19 November 2014

Hout Bay man arrested by 18 cops has bail extended

Santonio Jonkers let out a sigh of frustration as he was told for the third time that his court case was postponed, this time till next year.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Brief | 13 November 2014

Not enough dentists or doctors, long queues: Nyanga residents protest

Members of the Treatment Action Campaign and residents marched today in Nyanga to protest about poor health services in Nyanga and surrounding townships.

Zintle Swana

News | 12 November 2014

Over a million children fall through foster care cracks

Over a million orphans and abused, neglected, and abandoned children in South Africa are falling through the cracks of an overburdened foster care system.

Joyce Xi

Feature | 12 November 2014

Who is behind Confessions of a Bisexual Chick?

A year ago, Ntombikayise Matyumza of Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape started a Facebook page aimed at gay and lesbian youth. Today she has more than 14,000 followers across the country.

Pharie Sefali

News | 12 November 2014

Disabled Khayelitsha resident has to use neighbours’ toilet

Disabled Site C resident Vincent Gaelejwe, 43, lives in a one-roomed shack and has nowhere to keep the portable toilet supplied by the City of Cape Town. Instead, he limps to his neighbour’s house every day to use the portable toilet there.

Zintle Swana

News | 11 November 2014

Poor sanitation and lousy maps contribute to Khayelitsha’s crime problems

Following the Khayelitsha Inquiry into Policing, a series of meetings are being organised between SAPS and the Khayelitsha community. One took place at the University of Cape Town's middle campus on the weekend.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 11 November 2014

SAPS to investigate torture in Zimbabwe

South Africa’s highest court has ordered the police to investigate allegations of torture by Zimbabwe police carried out in Zimbabwe on Zimbabwean nationals.

Carmel Rickard

News | 7 November 2014

ArcelorMittal and environmental groups battle it out in court

Can civil society organisations compel private companies to provide documents about their impact on the environment? This is the central question in a court battle that reached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein yesterday.

GroundUp staff

News | 7 November 2014