Philippi students speak out about police showdown
On 6 March there was a violent stand-off between students from Philippi High School and the police in the Cape Town CBD. GroundUp reported this. Here is a statement issued by the students on the events of that day.
Philippi High School Students
Opinion | 11 March 2015
Double-shift for Cape Town primary school causes tension
The parents of Mfuleni “tent school” students say that they are still unhappy with the arrangements made to accommodate their children. Now, community leaders are threatening to “evict” Bardale Primary School’s principal, if more classroom space is not made available.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 11 March 2015
Heideveld patients protest as disability grant applications declined
A group of 15 people who have been receiving disability grants for at least five years protested outside the Heideveld Community Day Centre on Monday after their latest applications were declined.
Barbara Maregele
News | 10 March 2015
“Now I have lunch in a clean canteen”
The contract workers who clean portable toilets all day at the Borcherd’s Quarry Depot now have a canteen and a place to change.
Zintle Swana
News | 10 March 2015
Sanitary pads: no sign that Zuma’s promise has been kept
Four years after President Jacob Zuma promised sanitary towels for poor women, there is no sign that his promise has been kept.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Brief | 10 March 2015
Polluters let off the hook
South Africans shouldn’t hold their breath as polluters are let off the hook. Decisions of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) on Tuesday 24 February 2015 marked a disappointing setback in the battle for improved air quality in South Africa.
Nicole Löser
Opinion | 9 March 2015
Buyers scammed in fake Cape Flats house sales
A Mitchell’s Plain man has been making fake house sales in Delft, Mfuleni and Gugulethu, apparently scamming buyers out of tens of thousands of rands.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Feature | 9 March 2015
Cosatu and Vavi: the Aurora factor
Infighting, bickering and the pursuit of power and patronage have largely paralysed Cosatu in recent years. That, broadly, is the view of the labour federation’s embattled general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi and of Jay Naidoo, Cosatu’s first general secretary.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 9 March 2015
Good and bad approaches to upgrading informal settlements
In February the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) dismantled a family’s shack in Mfuleni. This acrimonious incident raises important questions about how informal settlements are to be upgraded.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 9 March 2015