Government

We want service delivery, say Marikana residents

Garbage is piling up in Marikana informal settlement. Residents, concerned about their health and the squalor in which they are living, are calling on the City of Cape Town to begin providing services.

Nombulelo Damba

News | 13 May 2015

Former Buccaneers player in court - for coaching soccer

A three year long legal battle between the City of Cape Town and the African Brothers Football Academy (ABFA) is coming to a close. On 14 May the academy’s Craig Hepburn will appear in court, charged with failing to comply with the City’s zoning laws.

Elias Kuhn von Burgsdorff

Feature | 13 May 2015

Presidency silent on sanitary pad promise

It has been four years since President Jacob Zuma promised that sanitary pads would be provided for poor women and girls in South Africa. But repeated attempts by GroundUp to find out what has been done suggest that his promise has not been kept.

Pharie Sefali

News | 12 May 2015

Bangladeshi shop owners face xenophobic threats from Kimberley residents

The Bangladeshi owners of a shop were escorted out of Roodepan by heavily armed police officers last night. This happened after angry residents pelted the shop, Roodepan Mobile on Starling Street, with bricks and stones shortly after 7pm.

Douglas Mthukwane

News | 12 May 2015

No toilets and not enough water in struggle hero’s birthplace

Residents of Slangspruit in Pietermaritzburg say they are used to the smell of faeces, because they have no toilets.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 12 May 2015

Unpaid cleaners protest outside De Lille’s office

A few dozen Skyforce General Services employees picketed outside the Cape Town civic centre today, demanding to speak to Mayor Patricia de Lille about their salaries that have not been paid in full for months.

Pharie Sefali

News | 11 May 2015

Foreign nationals despondent after police raid their stalls

"What these people are doing is not right. Most of my relatives do not know what to do. All their goods were taken yesterday. They do not know what to do next," says Fatima Hassan, 29, a Somali who owns a stall in Bellville.

Bernard Chiguvare

News | 11 May 2015

Owners of company contracted by City abscond, leaving angry unpaid workers

Workers from Skyforce General Services company say they will picket today outside the Civic Centre to complain to Mayor Patricia de Lille that they have not been paid their full salaries for months.

Pharie Sefali

News | 11 May 2015

Hangberg residents vow to fight evictions

Some Hangberg residents living in the area known as “Die Sloot” say they will not move out of their homes despite looming threats of eviction.

Barbara Maregele

News | 11 May 2015

On D-Day for public sector wage agreement, consider lopsided government salaries

Don’t blame workers for poor management. And feel some sympathy for any competent managers, whether in a large school, a government department, or parastatal who often have to deal with a legacy of maladministration, all too often accompanied by levels of corruption.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 11 May 2015

Sexologists battle over who is the real deal

Two sexology institutes in Gauteng are in conflict with one another over who is offering a legitimate services versus who is operating illegally. And experts in the field say they are both in the wrong.

Nombulelo Damba

News | 8 May 2015

Detainee tells of shocking conditions for awaiting trial prisoners

After numerous organisations wrote to the Department of Correctional Services, raising their concerns about the bad conditions in the awaiting trial section of Pollsmoor prison, GroundUp exclusively spoke to a detainee in that section, who says nothing has changed.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Feature | 7 May 2015

How Virginia de Azevedo has improved our health

Dr Virginia de Azevedo, the City Health Manager in Khayelitsha, has become a target of SAMWU strike action which affects ten City of Cape Town run clinics in Khayelitsha.

Lynne Wilkinson

Opinion | 7 May 2015

SAMWU protests against “racist, and “corrupt, City managers

Protesters ululated, clapped hands and blew vuvuzelas in the Cape Town Civic Center, when Mayor Patricia de Lille promised to investigate allegations of racism by the City of Cape Town’s line managers.

Nombulelo Damba and Bernard Chiguvare

News | 6 May 2015

Dying and the law: the Dignity SA case explained

Yesterday Judge Fabricius of the Pretoria High Court handed down an order in the case of Robin Stransham-Ford.

Timothy Fish Hodgson

News | 1 May 2015

More toilets will save South Africa money

For over five years, the Social Justice Coalition in Cape Town has called for expanding access to safe and clean sanitation facilities in Khayelitsha and other townships in the city. Despite the overwhelming need for such services, the municipal government has yet to fulfill its duties to provide them at the requisite scale.

Gregg Gonsalves, Edward Kaplan and David Paltiel

Opinion | 29 April 2015