Human Rights

Tackling rape in Khayelitsha

Between two and three rapes are reported every day to a single centre in Khayelitsha. And the numbers will probably rise at the end of the year.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 20 October 2014

Week in activism

This week we look at Greenpeace’s call on government to make Eskom comply with pollution laws, a report prepared for Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and a call for the Department of Home Affairs to recognise transgender rights.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 17 October 2014

Marking “Black Wednesday”: how to ensure media freedom

Sunday October 19 marks the commemoration of ‘Black Wednesday’, the day in 1977 that the apartheid government banned a range of publications sympathetic to the Black Consciousness Movement, and arrested a group of journalists and editors.

Mark Weinberg

Opinion | 17 October 2014

Hangberg residents demonstrate outside court

Hangberg residents demonstrated at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in support of Santonio Jonkers who made his second appearance in court.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 17 October 2014

Hunger: half of SA at risk

One in four South Africans suffers from hunger on a regular basis, according to an Oxfam report released ahead of World Food Day, October 16.

Joyce Xi

News | 16 October 2014

Responding rationally to Ebola

Tightening border controls is not the way to prevent an outbreak of Ebola in South Africa, writes Nathan Geffen.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 16 October 2014

Getting community service for lawyers right

A new law is intended to make it easier for poor people to get decent legal representation. But there is much to be done to make it work, writes Liat Davis.

Liat Davis

Opinion | 13 October 2014

How an Ebola clinic works

“So just think of the one who is about to die, trapped behind hundreds of walls sizzling with heat, while at the same time, there are all those people, on the telephone or in cafes …” - The Plague by Albert Camus.

Kathryn Stinson

Opinion | 13 October 2014

How I crossed the border illegally

Every day, hundreds of Zimbabweans cross the Beit Bridge border across the Limpopo River into South Africa - some of them illegally. GroundUp reporter Tariro Washinyira joined them.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 13 October 2014

Hangberg man to sue police

The man assaulted by police at his home in Hangberg last week is preparing to bring a civil claim against the police. Meanwhile, Hout Bay’s police commissioner has said that neither he nor his staff knew of the covert operation by the National Intervention Unit.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 10 October 2014

SJC trial: “We wanted the City to see we were serious”

Emotions ran high in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday as Social Justice Coalition’s(SJC) general secretary, Phumeza Mlungwana, was cross-examined about last year’s protest on the steps of the Cape Town Civic Centre.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 8 October 2014

Lwandle commission recommends reforms to prevent illegal evictions

The Commission of Inquiry into the Lwandle evictions has recommended changes to legislation to prevent illegal evictions in future.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 8 October 2014

Week in activism

This week we look at the SERI’s workshop on law related to eviction, the social dialogue for the gay and lesbian community, TAC’s march for better services and IOM’s public debate on human trafficking.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 8 October 2014

SJC members defend civic centre protest

Protests are a way to be heard and not just an event, Social Justice Coalition general secretary Phumeza Mlungwana told the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Mary-Anne Gontsana and Lea Bork

News | 7 October 2014

Dressing “sexy” to get a lift to school

Many Mfuleni learners walk to and from school in Khayelitsha every day, but some have found their own mode of transport: they show their bodies to persuade drivers to give them money for transport or a lift.

Pharie Sefali

News | 7 October 2014

SA’s nuclear shame

After decades of fighting for compensation, workers from Pelindaba employed in the apartheid nuclear programme have caught the attention of Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela. The workers allege that they were exposed to chemicals and radiation that made them sick. They want Madonsela to bring their lengthy struggle for compensation to a close.

Mandy de Waal

News | 3 October 2014