“It hurts when people call me mad,” says Luvo Ndinisa. “I asked people from my community to stop calling me mad.”
Nwabisa Pondoyi
News | 28 October 2013
“South Africa has rather fallen off the radar,” the BBC journalist noted. This was similar to comments voiced by former anti-apartheid activists and by several one-time strugglista exiles, mainly in London, who never returned home to settle. Because, in the mainstream media of Europe, there is little mention of South Africa: and, after six weeks abroad, it was, for me, a useful reminder of how minor is our role in global political and economic affairs.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 28 October 2013
It is in the interests of large multinational companies to secure as many patents as possible. The Treatment Action Campaign, in line with the Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (IP), argues that patents should only be granted for medicines that are truly new and innovative, for example a brand new cancer cure.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 24 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 | 24 October 2013
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 “evidence led by the State during Kasonkomona’s trial confirms suspicions that the arrest and prosecution of Kasonkomona was politically motivated”.
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
Ben Biko, a former goalkeeper, coaches young soccer players in Philippi to professional level.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
News | 22 October 2013
Rene Mayinga from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on strike. He claims his employer, Street Parking Solution (SPS), which won a tender in July 2008 from the City of Cape Town to collect parking fees in the CBD, has not been paying him since 2009.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 21 October 2013
A Twitter storm erupted on 18 October after South African artist Euodia Roets published a blog post titled ‘How Woolworths Really Operates!’. 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
On 15 October 2013, about 40 Department of Home Affairs (DHA) officials protested outside their Cape Town office.The protest brings to a head several months of clashes between officials and DHA management.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
News | 21 October 2013
On 15 October, 250 rural women and activists marched to Parliament as part of the activities held worldwide for the International Day for Rural Women.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Brief | 21 October 2013
Khayelitsha is officially turning 30. Plans to build Khayelitsha were announced by the notorious Minister of Co-operation and Development, Dr Piet Koornhof, in 1983. By 1985, the suburb Site C had 30,000 people. *
Pharie Sefali and GroundUp staff
News | 16 October 2013
G4S is the world’s 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
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