18 September 2014
A new report by SERI profiles a community protest in Lenasia, Gauteng, and concludes that the criminal justice system was “abused” in order to intimidate activists and protesters. A look at similar cases in Cape Town seem to support this finding.
Daneel Knoetze
Galiema Kenny broke down as she recalled her son\xe2\x80\x99s last words to her after he was shot by gangsters in Manenberg. Kenny laid her 17-year-old son, Yusriy Kenny, to rest on Tuesday afternoon.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
More than one hundred residents, along with various religious groups, marched on Saturday, winding their way through the streets of Heideveld to protest against the increase in gang turf wars and the drug trade in the area.
Barbara Maregele
On Tuesday at a media briefing in Cape Town on the implementation of the new immigration regulations, Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba announced that the regulations will stay despite them having created much anxiety.
Tariro Washinyira and Thembela Ntongana
When people think of gangs in the townships of Cape Town, they mostly picture young boys and men — the Vato, Vura, Hardlivings, Palestinians and such. But there are also female gangs, rarely noticed, because they act differently from the male gangs. GroundUp went to talk to some of the \xe2\x80\x9cbabes\xe2\x80\x9d.
Pharie Sefali
Arrive in Smithfield from any direction and the first official board one sees announces: \xe2\x80\x98Mohokare declares war on waste\xe2\x80\x99. The chief weapon in that war is a platoon of temporary workers hired under government\xe2\x80\x99s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) administered by local municipalities.
Carmel Rickard
A desperate battle is raging across vast tracts of Mpumalanga between coal mining on the one hand and water preservation, food security and tourism on the other, writes Tracey Davies of the Centre for Environmental Rights.
Tracey Davies
A survey started in 2011 by the Quaker Peace Centre covering 102 learners has found that 95% of respondents were bullied at some point; of these 50% were bullied at school. The centre is ramping up its anti-bullying campaign.
Pharie Sefali
Filing income tax manually at a South African Revenue Service (SARS) branch can be a day\xe2\x80\x99s mission, involving hours of travel and standing in a queue.
Johnnie Isaac, Joyce Xi and Thembela Ntongana
Every month since January, Khayelitsha\xe2\x80\x99s refuse collectors and street cleaners in QA and PJS Section go in large groups to camp outside the supervisor\xe2\x80\x99s office so they can get what is due to them.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Former South African intelligence services minister and Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) veteran Ronnie Kasrils has launched a scathing attack on deputy defence minister Kebby Maphatsoe.
Terry Bell
Learners from a number of schools in Cape Town had the opportunity to meet surviving Rivonia trialists when a replica of Nelson Mandela\xe2\x80\x99s prison cell on Robben Island was launched to tour the country.
Johnnie Isaac
United Nations Association of South Africa (UNASA) will hold a Peace Day Event at the Gugulethu Sports Complex on Friday from 9am to 12pm.
Thembela Ntongana
As we celebrate the second Global Female Condom Day on 16 September 2014, I join the celebrations with a wide smile and confidence, writes Nokhwezi Hoboyi.
Nokhwezi Hoboyi
Peter Ndala earns his his living by doing odd jobs. He does gardening, maintenance work on sewage pipes, paving, woodwork and farm work. Everyday he waits at the roadside hoping he'll be hired for a day or more by anyone looking for casual labour.
Masixole Feni and Johnnie Isaac
On 13 September Equal Education marched in Johannesburg for decent school sanitation in Gauteng. Brad Brockman, the organisation's General Secretary, explains the campaign.
Brad Brockman
There is no reason people with HIV shouldn't be soldiers, says Tim Flack, who served in the navy and is the Western Cape representative for the South African National Defence Force Union.
Tim Flack
Deputy defence minister Kebby Maphatsoe this week withdrew his claim that public protector Thuli Madonsela was a \xe2\x80\x9cCIA spy\xe2\x80\x9d and apologised for the statement. But the issue continues to reverberate throughout the body politic.
Terry Bell
The Mfuleni Boxing Academy opened its doors to boxers from the area in 2010. In most townships, the reason community members open up sports clubs is to try and get the youth off the streets and away from gangsterism and substance abuse. Mfuleni is no exception.
Siyabonga Kalipa
At the semi-finals of the woman\xe2\x80\x99s leg of the Safa Cape Town Coca Cola Cup, the Saxon United Ladies team from Heideveld protested on one of the fields where a semi-final match between RV United from Khayelitsha and Phoenix Spurs from Bonteheuwel was about to start.
Siyabonga Kalipa