Spotlight on social grants: Sassa’s bid to stop illegal deductions
Every month, money is deducted from the accounts of hundreds of beneficiaries of social grants without their permission. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is working to get the money refunded. But according to the Black Sash, the system Sassa has set up does not work.
GroundUp Staff
Feature | 7 October 2015
Spotlight on social grants: Net1 - the company that runs the grant payment system
The South African government’s massive social security payment system is managed by a subsidiary of Net1, a company listed on stock exchanges in the United States and Johannesburg.
GroundUp Staff
Feature | 7 October 2015
Spotlight on social grants: How grants are used to back loans
Some social grant beneficiaries are so deeply in debt that much of each month’s grant goes to paying back a loan.
GroundUp Staff
Feature | 7 October 2015
Spotlight on social grants: How the system works
It’s 6:30am on a cold Wednesday morning and about 50 people, mostly women with babies, are already queuing outside the South African Social Security Agency office in the Delft library to apply for their child support grants.
GroundUp Staff
Feature | 7 October 2015
Aerial photos disputed in Hangberg case
In the case against Hangberg resident, Santonio Jonkers, state witness David Nortje told the court on Tuesday that he personally issued Jonkers with a notice of eviction in September 2011.
Barbara Maregele
News | 7 October 2015
Our lives are worth more than R500
“Crime is touching me; it’s eating me,” said Patricia May, standing on a stretch of vacant land between Extension 9 and Transit Camp, two neighbourhoods in the larger Grahamstown township.
Hancu Louw
News | 7 October 2015
Taking theatre out of the box and into the backyard
Mhlanguli George, a young Nyanga-based theatre producer and director, has created Theatre in the Backyard, which aims to offer a very different theatre experience from the mainstream.
Christopher Clark
News | 6 October 2015
Why DASO won Fort Hare
In May, the Democratic Alliance Student Alliance (DASO) won SRC elections at the University of Fort Hare. The university has been a stronghold of ANC-aligned organisations. We spoke to student leaders to find out what changed.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
Analysis | 6 October 2015
Time to reposition one of Africa’s great debates: gay rights
Over the past few years, we have seen an explosion of arguments for and against gay rights in Africa. Those in favour of gay rights point out that they can help to protect sexual minorities by making discrimination illegal, in the process making societies more equitable. Those opposed to gay rights allege that homosexuality only arrived with Europeans, that gay rights are a threat to the African nation, and a threat to the heterosexual family.
Andrew Tucker
Opinion | 6 October 2015