Human Rights
Spotlight on social grants: How the system works
It’s 6:30am on a cold Wednesday morning and about 50 people, mostly women with babies, are already queuing outside the South African Social Security Agency office in the Delft library to apply for their child support grants.
GroundUp Staff
Feature | 7 October 2015
Time to reposition one of Africa’s great debates: gay rights
Over the past few years, we have seen an explosion of arguments for and against gay rights in Africa. Those in favour of gay rights point out that they can help to protect sexual minorities by making discrimination illegal, in the process making societies more equitable. Those opposed to gay rights allege that homosexuality only arrived with Europeans, that gay rights are a threat to the African nation, and a threat to the heterosexual family.
Andrew Tucker
Opinion | 6 October 2015
Life-saving drug stopped by sole supplier
South Africa is running out of an essential medicine for treating very sick patients with tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant bacterial infections. Many hospitals are already out of stock.
GroundUp Staff
News | 5 October 2015
Stop hiding behind sub judice
"I can't comment - the matter is sub judice." This is the refrain beloved of senior politicians from Cyril Ramaphosa to Nathi Nhleko to Thandi Modise to Baleka Mbete to President Zuma himself when faced with a difficult question.
Leo Boonzaier
Analysis | 2 October 2015
South Africa’s real nutrition problems
Based on how much of our public space Tim Noakes and the Banting diet occupy, you might think that one of the most important nutrition problems facing South Africa is the carbohydrate vs fat intake in our diets. It just isn’t.
Ashleigh Furlong
News | 2 October 2015
“Application dismissed” - a reflection on My Vote Counts, and losing
To hear those two words from a majority of the Constitutional Court after another wave of tireless campaigning on one of the oldest and most fundamental issues we face as a country was brutal.
Gregory Solik
Opinion | 1 October 2015
How bureaucracy is delaying Virginia’s dream of being a doctor
Virginia Sibanda, like thousands of youth across South Africa in November 2014, was hunched over a desk, pen in hand, taking her matric exams. Her years of accumulated academic trophies and certificates culminated in these papers. She had attended tutoring sessions, practiced the past exams, and had applied to universities to pursue her dream of studying medicine.
Sarita Pillay
Feature | 1 October 2015
Understanding the Constitutional Court judgments on political party funding
In the wake of the Hitachi/Chancellor House investigation in the US and Hitachi Corporation’s agreement to pay a huge amount to settle the corruption allegations made against it, the Constitutional Court’s judgments in My Vote Counts NPC v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others, handed down on Wednesday, could hardly be more pertinent.
Shanelle van der Berg
Analysis | 1 October 2015
“You are responsible for creating a historical sadness” - Archbishop
Nearly 2,000 people braved the cold and rain to join the Unite Against Corruption march to Parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people participated in the main march in Pretoria. Smaller marches also took place in other cities, including Durban and Grahamstown.
GroundUp Staff
News | 30 September 2015