Clarity, Kriel and the Cape Times

A lack of adequate resources and asset-stripping by the Irish carpetbagger Tony — now Sir Anthony — O'Reilly are the real problems with the Cape Times, not the undeniable quality, let alone pigmentation, of the staff. But there are other issues too that require examination.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 29 December 2013

Rent a crowd protest - an attack on media freedom

Cape Times editor Alide Dasnois was fired by Iqbal Surve, executive chairperson of the Sekunjalo Consortium, the day after Mandela’s death.

Shireen Mukadam

Opinion | 18 December 2013

Cape Times demo: plot thickens

It now appears that it was the fairly recently ordained pastor and political changeling, Wesley Douglas, who was one of the organisers of the group that gatecrashed a Right to Know (R2K) protest in Cape Town yesterday.

Terry Bell

News | 18 December 2013

Goons attempt to disrupt protest for press freedom

The saga of the Cape Times and South Africa’s Independent Newspapers (INL) group plumbed new depths of farce this afternoon (December 17) when a rent-a-crowd arrived in the city to support the putative new owner, Iqbal Survé.

Terry Bell

News | 17 December 2013

Mandela and the dangers of deification

As everyone from monarchs to the labouring masses this week sought to share in the Mandela memorial moment, the myth machine went into overdrive, the very machine Mandela had so disparaged when I sat with him in his Johannesburg office in 1992. One sentence he uttered then has resonated with me throughout the years: “I am no messiah.”

Terry Bell

Opinion | 17 December 2013

Madiba

News | 13 December 2013

When the ANC jeered Madiba

Do any of the members of the ANC's 1997-2002 NEC now regret the way they heckled and jeered Madiba at an NEC meeting in March 2002?

Roy Jobson

Opinion | 12 December 2013

Week in political activism

This week we have reports from Lawyers for Human Rights about refugees being prevented from informal trading, and SERI who successfully represented Johannesburg's informal traders at the Constitutional Court.

Compiled by Brent Meersman

News | 12 December 2013

Unity after Madiba?

After the departure of Nelson Mandela, where is this unity we talk about? On the day of Tata's memorial the world was watching. It was a day where South Africans from different backgrounds, through the rain, walked, drove, took buses, trains and taxis to Soccer City to witness the memorial of an African hero.

Axolile Notywala

Opinion | 12 December 2013

Hatched the day before Madiba’s release: a born-free speaks

I was born the day before Madiba's release from prison. Most of what I know about him I was told by my parents or I learnt at school. I never met him. Nevertheless, the way he shared his life made it feel as if I knew him personally.

Nwabisa Pondoyi

Opinion | 12 December 2013

If the boo fits …

In his 2004 Nelson Mandela lecture Desmond Tutu bravely suggested that an “uncritical, sycophantic, obsequious conformity” constituted a threat to democracy in South Africa. He said that “too many are foolhardy and opt for silence to become voting cattle for the party.”

Doron Isaacs

Opinion | 12 December 2013

Humbug Dr Survè

Iqbal Survè, whose company Sekunjalo now owns Independent Newspapers, is not merely a profoundly disingenuous man. He has shown that he's willing to use his newly acquired media empire to support his disingenuity.

Nathan Geffen, GroundUp Editor

Opinion | 11 December 2013

Zimbabwean kids detained after being smuggled into SA

The parents and relatives of six Zimbabwean children and five adults have found themselves helpless after malaichas (their smugglers) were arrested for human trafficking.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 11 December 2013

Fears of surge in Manenberg gang violence

Some Manenberg residents are worried that gang violence has started again in their area, with two people allegedly shot and killed on Saturday.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 11 December 2013

Improvement in Khayelitsha street lights

On the evening of 2 December 2013, Groundup staff visited Lansdowne Road in Khayelitsha to assess the state of street lights in the area. We counted 29 lights that were not functional. Overall, it appears that the state of street lights has improved since our last report on the issue in August 2013.

Jonathan Dockney

News | 11 December 2013

Apartheid proponent comes to Madiba’s Memorial

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial decision not to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral and to send Yuli Edelstein who is the current Speaker of the Knesset and a settler, is not only disgraceful, but has sent a clear message to the world that Netanyahu is a “leader” of the worst kind.

Shuaib Manjra

Opinion | 11 December 2013