The scandal of South Africa’s sick miners
Human rights lawyers have been engaged for ten years in a bid to secure massive damages for former gold miners who suffer from silicosis and TB. As the case heads for the courts, the mining industry is scrambling to offer its own and much less comprehensive solution.
Pete Lewis
Analysis | 11 June 2015
SAPS twice as lethal as US police
In a feature titled The Counted, The Guardian is keeping track of the number of people killed by police action in the United States. “US police kill more in days than other countries do in years,” says The Guardian. We wondered how the police in South Africa compare.
GroundUp Staff
Analysis | 10 June 2015
Fireworks at AIDS conference
Benny Malakoane, MEC for Health in the Free State, came under fire while sitting in the audience at the opening of the 7th South African AIDS Conference in Durban on Tuesday evening. Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) chairperson, Nkhensani Mavasa, delivering one of the opening speeches, called for him to be dismissed.
GroundUp Staff
Brief | 10 June 2015
Should Blikkiesdorp move, or the airport?
Apparently, it was Benjamin Franklin who said, “You fail to plan, and you plan to fail.” This axiom was repeated to me by a Blikkiesdorp community member.
Alison Tilley
Opinion | 9 June 2015
Iris House provides free, community-based care for special needs children
South Africa's first Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Association will be launched later this year, according to the founder of Iris House Children's Hospice Sue van der Linde.
Barbara Maregele
News | 9 June 2015
Coping with chronic epilepsy while living in a shack: one family’s story
Siphokazi Rululu (14) and her father, Ayanda Qhara, both suffer from chronic epilepsy. Her mother leaves for work in a restaurant chain kitchen at 6am and returns at 7pm four-days a week. Siphokazi’s sister, who is seven years old, must sometimes care for her family during these times.
Pharie Sefali
News | 9 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
De Waal Drive tenants mobilise against potential evictions
The De Waal Drive tenants’ campaign to resist relocation to Pelican Park is gaining momentum. This weekend signatures from most tenants to ratify their elected committee were gathered, and yesterday the committee had a strategic session with the South Road Families Association (SRFA).
Daneel Knoetze
Opinion | 8 June 2015
Burundians burnt out in Lower Crossroads
It is almost a week since violence between Marikana and Lower Crossroads residents in Cape Town erupted leaving a trail of destruction. Four Burundians, bystanders caught up in the devastation, are now struggling to pick up their lives.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 8 June 2015