The long-awaited criminal case against Paul Kasonkomona began on 16 and 17 October in the Lusaka Magistrates Court. Witnesses for the prosecution testified during the hearing. According to Anneke Meerkotter of the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), the āevidence led by the State during Kasonkomonaās trial confirms suspicions that the arrest and prosecution of Kasonkomona was politically motivatedā.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 24 October 2013
A decision taken in 2012 by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to stop processing new applicants at the Cape Town refugee reception office has resulted in asylum seekers having to travel long distances at great cost to be documented and renew their permits.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 23 October 2013
Thousands of people in South Africa have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Many of them will die. Death from TB can be slow and horrible. Many of those who do survive will struggle with severe side effects and may need daily pills and injections. Some, like 23-year old Phumeza who described her experience of TB treatment at a Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) press conference last week, will live, but lose their hearing.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 23 October 2013
A Twitter storm erupted on 18 October after South African artist Euodia Roets published a blog post titled āHow Woolworths Really Operates!ā. Roets believes her design of a hummingbird on a cushion was used by Woolworths without the company acknowledging it as her work.
Delphine Pedeboy and GroundUp Editor
News | 21 October 2013
G4S is the worldās largest international security firm. It has a big presence in South Africa. Employee relations are strained at the University of Cape Town following the transfer of three G4S security guards to other G4S sites in Cape Town in September.
GroundUp Staff
News | 16 October 2013
On 15 August 2013 the Zambian High Court refused to hear a constitutional application by Paul Kasonkomona regarding his right to freedom of expression being violated by police charges against him.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 9 October 2013
The O'Regan/Pikoli Commision of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha is to go ahead after a Constitutional Court ruling last week. GroundUp went to the streets of Khayelitsha to gauge peopleās reaction to the ruling.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
Opinion | 9 October 2013
South Africaās draft intellectual property policy fails to make any mention of the most progressive copyright treaty in years. Blind and visually impaired people will pay the price if this is not rectified in the final policy.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 2 October 2013
It's now nearly 50 days since Toronto filmmaker John Greyson and London, Ontario Doctor Tarek Loubani were arrested by Egyptian police while on their way to Gaza. They are on the 16th day of a hunger strike against their treatment and detention without charge.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 2 October 2013
The matter against the twenty-one Social Justice Coalition (SJC) activists, who took part in a civil disobedience action last week, has been postponed to 23 October 2013. The 21 activists appeared before the Cape Town Magistratesā Court this morning.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Brief | 18 September 2013
On 18 September 2013, twenty-one Social Justice Coalition activists will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate court for contravening provisions of the Regulation of Gatherings Act.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Opinion | 18 September 2013
The Neil Aggett Memorial lecture was delivered by Jay Naidoo at Kingswood College, Grahamstown on 13 September 2013.
Jay Naidoo
Opinion | 17 September 2013
This is an edited extract from a speech by Prof. Roy Jobson at a memorial for Dr. Neil Aggett at Kingswood College on 14 September 2013.
Roy Jobson
News | 16 September 2013
The debacle around Dali Mpofu's fees at the Farlam Commission is an important moment.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 11 September 2013
In April 2012, the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDoH) put in place a moratorium on the appointment of healthcare workers to vacant posts at facilities throughout the province. This moratorium was instituted in an attempt to control the chronic overspending that was pushing the department deeper into financial crisis each year.
Daygan Eagar
Opinion | 11 September 2013
A demonstration framed āas a silent protest against racismā held at Wits University on 28 August turned out to be anything but an embodiment of the principles of the anti-racism it espoused when a small group of the protesters sang ādubula e judaā (shoot the Jew).
Heidi-Jane Esakov
Opinion | 4 September 2013