Is this the dirtiest job in Cape Town?
It’s midday and in 29 degree heat Sannicare contract workers Prudence Brink, Carmelita Johnson and Francious Beukes are having lunch, sitting on empty portable toilets in front of the depot at Airport Industria where thousands of toilets are cleaned daily.
Text by Zintle Swana. Photos by Masixole Feni.
Feature | 21 January 2015
“Enough is enough!” - Manenberg residents take to the streets
Instead of the familiar echo of bullets, the sound of dozens of Manenberg residents chanting “Enough is enough” could be heard last night through the streets notorious for the recent spate of gang violence in the area.
Barbara Maregele
News | 21 January 2015
Classrooms of the future?
The air is thick with the excitement of the first week of school. Stories of bright-eyed learners whose parents are dropping them off for the start of their school careers, donning their too-big uniforms and carrying backpacks almost the size of the learners themselves, are all over newspapers, radio stations, televisions and social media.
Nikki Stein
Opinion | 21 January 2015
Sexual trauma, a talking cat and a mid-life crisis
Nthikeng Mohlele’s latest novel, “Rusty Bell” will delight readers already won over by his previous two books “The Scent of Bliss” (2008) and “Small Things” (2013). Mohlele is a fine, literary novelist, a rarity on the South African publishing scene, who although receiving praise from significant quarters, should be enjoying much more attention.
Nthikeng Mohlele
News | 21 January 2015
NSRI’s water safety education a “drop in the ocean”
The WaterWise Academy has taught water safety skills to over half a million children around the country. These skills are easy to learn and provide an effective way to reduce the number of drownings in South Africa, says the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
Kevin Elliott
News | 20 January 2015
City’s janitorial programme to be scrapped in some areas
The City of Cape Town will not be renewing the contracts of janitors employed to clean flush toilets in some informal settlements in the city.
Barbara Maragele
News | 19 January 2015
What Africa’s premier soccer tournament means to Equatorial Guinea
The brutal kleptocracy of Equatorial Guinea hopes to gain a measure of international acceptance by hosting the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) soccer spectacle that kicked off this weekend, writes Terry Bell. The oil and gas wealth generated by this “Kuwait of Africa” provides the economic wherewithal for the ruling elite to buy favours while the bulk of the population wallows in repressive poverty. Bell was the only foreign journalist to cover the independence of Equatorial Guinea more than 46 years ago.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 January 2015
Why Cape Town should not name a street after FW De Klerk
Once again, there is a furore about plans to name a major Cape Town street after former apartheid president FW de Klerk. As well there should be, although there is considerable support for the proposal.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 January 2015
Role models and perseverance: how Kenny Solomon became South Africa’s first grandmaster
In December Kenny Solomon crossed the final hurdle needed to achieve what no other South African has. He won the African Individual Championship to become South Africa’s first chess grandmaster. Along the way he beat Egyptian grandmaster Ahmed Adly.
Nathan Geffen
News | 18 January 2015