One of the major medical advances of the last few decades has been the two-dose vaccine for children against measles. A responsible doctor or public health expert would not do anything to jeopardise public confidence in the vaccine. Yet this is exactly what UCT's Professor Tim Noakes did this past weekend, writes Nathan Geffen.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 27 August 2014
The house demolitions and evictions that took place in Strand last week highlighted the class and race fractures that run through our country.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 12 June 2014
Simmy Lewis is 96 and a South African veteran of World War II. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, GroundUp spoke to Lewis about the war, his views on race and living with increasing frailty.
Introduction written by Nathan Geffen. Camera and video editing by Neo Sithole
News | 2 June 2014
Following a campaign in Constantia earlier this week, the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement took their protest against portable toilets to Bishopscourt today.
Johnnie Isaac and Nathan Geffen
Feature | 30 April 2014
As we head into elections, the ANC boasts about successes in the fight against AIDS and South Africa’s large antiretroviral treatment programme.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 3 April 2014
Reports published this month by Stats SA and the Medical Research Council (MRC) provide interesting information on how South Africans are dying.
Nathan Geffen
News | 1 April 2014
Two government reports published in March show that the nation’s health is improving dramatically, but more people are getting sick from forms of tuberculosis that are difficult to treat.
Nathan Geffen
News | 31 March 2014
Once the playing begins, all that's to be heard is the clanging of pieces and the thumping of clocks signalling that it's "your move". Today, chess took centre stage at the Gugulethu Sports Centre.
Nathan Geffen
News | 15 March 2014
“Sugar daddies destroy lives” say billboard adverts in Kwazulu-Natal in big bold black and red letters. The same message is echoed in radio adverts played across the country.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 11 March 2014
It has become taboo in much of the world to discriminate against people because of their religion, skin colour or sex. Despite recent setbacks the same goes for sexual orientation. Gradually we are realising that these are arbitrary distinctions, at least when it comes to law and policy.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 18 February 2014
In a recent column, the editor of South Africa's Business Day newspaper, Peter Bruce, claimed that sugar kills more South Africans than HIV/AIDS has ever done. He was wrong.
Nathan Geffen (GroundUp Editor) via Africa Check
News | 29 January 2014
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
Leaders, former leaders and the main cheerleaders of the Democratic Alliance have publicly debated these last weeks about whether or not the party has betrayed its liberal tradition with its stance on black economic empowerment.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 18 November 2013
Receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis in your early 50s is frightening. It is difficult to imagine what Mario Ambrosini is going through. That he wishes to beat cancer and that he is disappointed with medical science because it offers him so little hope is entirely understandable.
Nathan Geffen, GroundUp Editor
Opinion | 4 November 2013
Oscar Pistorius’ bail application apparently showed how the justice system works when someone is arrested. But actually his hearing and release on bail were exceptional.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 5 September 2013
Shaul and Yuli Novak are two Israeli Defence Force veterans with the organisation Breaking the Silence. They are currently visiting South Africa, giving talks and promoting a book. Breaking the Silence publishes testimonies by Israeli soldiers of their actions, many of them human rights violations, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 22 August 2013