Articles for Mary-Anne Gontsana

Circumcision just got easier

In a bid to get thousands of men in the Western Cape circumcised, the national department of health (NDoH) officially cut the ribbon to launch the new mobile theatres which will be going around the Cape’s remote areas, to get males circumcised.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 1 September 2014

School transport a nightmare

Every day hundreds of parents depend on private transport operators to get their children to school and back home. The quality of service varies. GroundUp found some disturbing stories.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Feature | 27 August 2014

Cosatu holds conference on crime

On 22 August in the Cape Town City Hall, Cosatu convened an anti-crime conference in response to desperate pleas from communities asking for a more effective response to crime.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 22 August 2014

TAC pickets Michael Mapongwana baby unit

“There is no privacy, you are asked in front of everyone what your baby's HIV status is. It is dirty and the staff is very disrespectful in the way they speak to patients. I don’t go to that clinic anymore; it’s been a year now. Because of their treatment I did something I shouldn’t have done, I tested my child for HIV myself, because I too work at a clinic.”

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 14 August 2014

Department of Coffee opens new branches

Muffin runs, a pop up shop, a new range of coffee beans and now training volunteers to be baristas -- Khayelitsha’s first coffee shop, the Department of Coffee (DOC) is growing and showing no signs of slowing down.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 11 August 2014

Evicted Mfuleni backyarders now live in a tent

After being evicted four times from private land, about 100 Mfuleni residents have now found respite in a tent on a piece of vacant land in Bardale.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 7 August 2014

Firgrove residents want their land back

Two thousand residents removed forcefully from Firgrove, Somerset West, between 1971 and 1975 under the apartheid Group Areas Act, want their land back. ‘Blacks’ were moved to Mfuleni and ‘coloureds’ were moved to Macassar.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 4 August 2014

Makhaza’s shoddily built houses

Zone 14 residents in Makhaza are worried about the shoddy building of houses managed by the Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT). This has prompted the provincial Human Settlements Department to investigate after receiving numerous complaints.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 23 July 2014

Murdered doctor: TAC marches through Khayelitsha

Escorted by the metro police and the South African Police Service (SAPS), carrying a huge banner written “Criminals are being nursed by the system, justice must prevail”, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) led a march through Khayelitsha to demand safe communities.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 22 July 2014

Growing vegetables in the oddest place

Thabani Marhanjana is growing a vegetable garden in an unusal place - on the roof of a two-story building in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 15 July 2014

Babies found abandoned in Khayelitsha

Residents of Site B in Khayelitsha were shocked and angered after the body of a baby was found in a toilet last week. The tiny body lay between pieces of paper inside the bucket system toilet.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 26 June 2014

Kukhanya - a young burn survivor’s tale

Seven-year-old Kukhanya Ngxumza suffered severe burns when he was only a few months old. Today, he is teased at school, but he doesn’t let bullies win.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 24 June 2014

Another winter after 22 years waiting for a house

“I doubt that I will get my house while I am still alive”, says wheelchair-bound Mbuyiselo Vena who has been on a waiting list for a house since 1992. But the City of Cape Town says Vena no longer wants his house built via the Iqhayiyalethu project, and that he needs to join a different housing project.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 19 June 2014

First green bakery in Khayelitsha opens

Lufefe Nomjana used to bake 25 loaves of spinach bread a day and walk up to 25 kilometres to distribute them. Now he has launched the first green bakery in Khayelitsha, Espinaca Innovations.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 3 June 2014

Elections: what people are saying

GroundUp spoke to people about the elections, asking whether they would vote, who they would vote for and why. This is the first of a series GroundUp will be running.

Mary-Anne Gontsana and Pharie Sefali

News | 16 April 2014

Cape Town Jazz Festival workshop in Gugulethu

As the city prepares for the annual Cape Town Jazz Festival on 28 and 29 March, Gugulethu was treated to a preview of what to expect at the event.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 28 March 2014