Crime

Campaigning for clean toilets and good cops: an interview with the SJC’s Axolile Notywala

The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) has been at the forefront of two campaigns in recent years: improved toilet provision and better policing in Cape Town's townships. GroundUp did an in-depth interview with the organisation's Axolile Notywala.

GroundUp Staff

News | 21 August 2015

Marikana: reminders of a massacre

Three years ago on this day, the police shot dead 34 miners at Marikana. Here are some of the articles we've published since then that, sadly, remain current and relevant.

GroundUp Staff

Analysis | 16 August 2015

Not enough cops here, says head of Ocean View police

“I was walking at 5am to catch a taxi to go to work. Three people with their faces covered surrounded me and put me in the middle,” says Robert Makhoza, a resident of Masiphumelele.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 11 August 2015

Phiyega rejects recommendations of O’Regan Inquiry

Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega has “denied, disputed or redirected to the [Western Cape Provincial Government and City of Cape Town]” every recommendation of the O’Regan Commission of Inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha.

GroundUp Staff and Bernard Chiguvare

News | 7 August 2015

Police warn of smash and grab crime in Eisleben Road in Crossroads

Police have warned motorists to be cautious on Eisleben Road and at the robots on Govan Mbeki Road in Crossroads.

Pharie Sefali

News | 5 August 2015

“Sex work should not cost me my life”

On a wet and windy Tuesday morning on the corner of Oak and Main roads in Kenilworth, people gathered to sing and dance on the pavement, many in bright orange T-shirts with the words, 'Sex work should not cost me my life' written across their fronts.

Ashleigh Furlong

News | 5 August 2015

Taking your life in your hands on Metrorail

In the past year, 394 incidents of crime on trains were reported in the Western Cape according to Metrorail. “We are losing lives on overcrowded and dangerous trains,” said Cosatu Western Cape provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich last week at the launch of its Section 77 application to Nedlac relating to train transport in the Western Cape. A lack of security on the trains is a key concern of the campaign.

Ashleigh Furlong

News | 3 August 2015

Khayelitsha residents stuck with severe lack of police resources

Eleven months after the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing released its finding that the South African Police Service (SAPS) allocation of resources was unfair and irrational, the situation has hardly improved. Khayelitsha residents still suffer from a severe lack of police resources and there are still reports of poor communication and distrust between the police and the community.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 23 July 2015

Top cops try to reassure Khayelitsha community

On Saturday at a meeting convened by police at Siviwe Primary School in Khwezi Park, police pleaded with the Khayelitsha community not to resort to vigilantism.

Vincent Lali

Brief | 20 July 2015

Victory for consumers as court rules against salary deductions

Single mother and sole breadwinner Lisinda Bailey became tearful in court after Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai declared the deductions which had been made from her salary were “invalid and unlawful.”

Barbara Maregele

News | 8 July 2015

Close down deadly tavern, demand protesters

Over 200 young people in Khayelitsha marched to Harare Police at 11am today (6 July 2015) to demand the closure of Osi’s Place, a local tavern.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 6 July 2015

“Not all drug addicts are criminals”

To celebrate his achievement of reaching a decade of sobriety on Sunday, Recovering Addicts Empowering Lives (RAEL) founder Anthony Hall will be donating R10,000 to bail out a group of awaiting trial prisoners.

Barbara Maregele

News | 23 June 2015

How brave nine-year-old narrowly missed falling through the welfare system’s cracks

Luxolo “Nana” Ntsantsa was left paralysed from the waist down after a gunman killed his mother and left him for dead in their small shack in Site C, Khayelitsha nearly a year ago.

Barbara Maregele

Feature | 15 June 2015

Khayelitsha pastor rape case postponed

A trial of a Khayelitsha pastor accused of rape was postponed in the Khayelitsha Regional court on Thursday. Pastor Themba Dumisani Mathibela, also known as TD, is facing seven counts of rape.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Brief | 11 June 2015

Gun shots any time of day in Manenberg

This past weekend in gang-plagued Manenberg, a number of shootings took place once again in what community members refer to as one of those “worse weekends”.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 8 June 2015

Has the president used the defence force legally?

To deploy the army is an exceptional measure. It implies that the police force is unable to control a situation that threatens a country’s security and well-being.

Lara Wallis

Analysis | 4 June 2015