On September 30, the government announced the second increase this year in disability grants, old age pensions, care dependency grants and war veterans' pensions. These increases will come in addition to the child support grant and grant-in-aid increases, which were already budgeted for in March. Although the increase is only R10, it will equate to a R41 million increase in government spending per month.
Gabrielle Kelly
Opinion | 7 October 2013
South Africa’s draft intellectual property policy fails to make any mention of the most progressive copyright treaty in years. Blind and visually impaired people will pay the price if this is not rectified in the final policy.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 2 October 2013
Yesterday, the Constitutional Court dismissed a request by the Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa and others to hear a direct appeal against the appointment of the O’Regan/Pikoli Commission of Inquiry.
Jacques van Heerden
Opinion | 2 October 2013
It's now nearly 50 days since Toronto filmmaker John Greyson and London, Ontario Doctor Tarek Loubani were arrested by Egyptian police while on their way to Gaza. They are on the 16th day of a hunger strike against their treatment and detention without charge.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 2 October 2013
My name is Bayanda Mazwi and I am 17 years old. I am currently doing grade 11 at the Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT) in Khayelitsha. I live with my parents and my two younger siblings in the informal settlement of Monwabisi Park in Khayelitsha.
Bayanda Mazwi
Opinion | 2 October 2013
At the centre of South Africa’s economic inequality and resulting poverty is a lack of access to economic opportunity. Small and medium enterprises have a pivotal role to play in accelerating economic growth for poor and working class communities.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Opinion | 1 October 2013
NdinguMambhathane, uTshaya, uMxesibe, uMgxubane, Khandanyawana, uMam’Khuma, Nxele, Bhaca, isizukulwana sika Ntswayibana noBhakaqana.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Opinion | 23 September 2013
For me heritage goes deeper than the colour of my skin. It starts from the very beginning, my birth.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
Opinion | 23 September 2013
A little north west of the road which runs from Ixopo into the hills of KwaZulu-Natal immortalised by Alan Paton, is a quiet, slow-moving enclave. The Kamberg Valley, just 78 kilometres east of Lesotho, kneels before the Drakensberg mountain range, crimped by the wind and harshness of the rocky land over millions of years to coalesce into a silencing, breathless serenity.
Greg Solik
Opinion | 23 September 2013
On 18 September 2013, twenty-one Social Justice Coalition activists will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate court for contravening provisions of the Regulation of Gatherings Act.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Opinion | 18 September 2013
The Neil Aggett Memorial lecture was delivered by Jay Naidoo at Kingswood College, Grahamstown on 13 September 2013.
Jay Naidoo
Opinion | 17 September 2013
“It’s the same, the whole world over, it’s the poor what gets the blame.” So starts the chorus of a well-known British music hall song. Today it could be a two-line anthem for the international labour movement as the economic crisis continues to bite and disillusionment with the existing political order grows.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 16 September 2013
The debacle around Dali Mpofu's fees at the Farlam Commission is an important moment.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 11 September 2013
At over six-foot tall (with heels) and a body to rival any Hollywood starlet, Leigh cuts an impressive figure. Her jet-black hair and thick eyeliner give her an almost brooding and feline quality. She looks directly at you with a friendly smile and moves with finesse.
Jonathan Dockney
Opinion | 11 September 2013
In April 2012, the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDoH) put in place a moratorium on the appointment of healthcare workers to vacant posts at facilities throughout the province. This moratorium was instituted in an attempt to control the chronic overspending that was pushing the department deeper into financial crisis each year.
Daygan Eagar
Opinion | 11 September 2013
The failing healthcare system in the Eastern Cape affects everyone: urban communities, migrants from Gauteng and Cape Town too sick to work anymore or returning home to retire, and healthcare workers who don’t have the medicines, equipment and a functioning referral system, to offer the care their patients need.
Marije Versteeg
Opinion | 11 September 2013