Farm worker union funding target reached

With only hours to go before the cut-off time, farm workers union Csaawu (Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union) has raised the target amount of R115,000 in its first phase of online crowd funding. The money will go towards paying for legal costs incurred for defending dismissed farm workers in the Cape Town Labour Court last year.

GroundUp Staff

Brief | 2 February 2015

Owls to be used to rid homes of rats

Philippi residents say there is just no getting rid of the rats terrorising them in their homes. But the City of Cape Town has a plan to introduce owls to solve the problem.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 2 February 2015

State ownership does not equal socialism

The Q’uran and the Prophet Mohammed cannot be held responsible for the Jihadi atrocities of Boko Haram or the Islamic State groups any more than can the Christian Gospels and Jesus be held responsible for apartheid or the Ku Klux Klan. To claim otherwise is simply illogical.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 2 February 2015

Indlela uDJ osakhasayo waseKhayelitsha awavelisa ngayo eyona ngoma ithandiweyo enyakeni

Kwiinyanga ezimbalwa ezidlulileyo akukho mntu wayenokucingela ukuba uDJ osakhasayo waseKhayelitsha angavelisa enye yeengoma ezinkqenkqeza phambili zika-2014: ‘uKoze Kuse’.

NguZethu Gqola

News | 30 January 2015

Ethical trade body fails farm worker

The Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association (Wieta), which lists some of the country's top producers, appears to have recanted on its promise to investigate allegations of assault on a farm worker by one of its members. A board member says the organisation has double standards - quick to help its farm owning members, while sweeping aside complaints of abuse from workers.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 30 January 2015

Robertson farmer charged with assault on employee

The owner of Eilandia farm will stand trial on charges of assaulting and strangling an employee in the Robertson Magistrates Court on Friday. Whatever the outcome of the case, a local farm workers’ union has heralded the police investigation and court appearance as a victory.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 30 January 2015

Primary school kids sent home because of lack of toilets and sewage smell

It is only 10am on a Wednesday morning and A.C.J. Phakade primary school students in Nomzamo township (near Strand in Cape Town) are already walking home or waiting for shuttles to fetch them.

Zintle Swana

News | 29 January 2015

How a small-time DJ from Khayelitsha produced the song of the year

A few months ago no one could have predicted that a small-time DJ from Khayelitsha would produce what would be one of the hits of 2014: ‘Koze Kuse’.

Zethu Gqola

News | 29 January 2015

No room for learners: parents start school in tent

Hundreds of learners are using a tent in Mfuleni’s Bardale neighbourhood as a school after parents say they were turned away from primary and high schools in the area which are full.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Feature | 29 January 2015