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

Police use stun grenades; injure and disperse marching Philippi students

A protest in Cape Town city centre by students from Philippi High School over the lack of infrastructure and classrooms at their campus was violently dispersed by police officers on Friday morning.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 6 March 2015

Domestic workers slip through the cracks in UIF

Only 50% of domestic workers in the Western Cape are registered for Unemployment Insurance, according to official statistics. GroundUp tested the system to find out why employers don’t register their workers.

Ben Stanwix

News | 6 March 2015

A Cape Town firefighter’s long journey to work

It's 5:30am in Town Two, Khayelitsha, and firefighter Anelisa Flani has just started her day.

Barbara Maregele

News | 6 March 2015

Human Rights Commission to probe city toilets again

The SA Human Rights Commission is to re-examine its report on chemical toilets in the informal settlements, after finding procedural irregularities in the report.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 5 March 2015

TAC calls on Free State premier to fire MEC

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has called on Free State Premier Ace Magashule to fire or suspend health MEC Benny Malakoane, after the release of a letter from doctors about the Free State healthcare system.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Brief | 5 March 2015

Cape fire claims life

As the country's attention was transfixed on the Table Mountain fires, another blaze claimed one life and left three families homeless in a Franschhoek informal settlement.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 5 March 2015

False Bay domestic worker paid nothing for 14 years

A 61-year-old Zimbabwean domestic worker, Gladys Mafita, claims her False Bay employer fired her without payment after 14 years.The employer is Daniel Deng, son of Francis Deng, the first ambassador of South Sudan to the United States.

Tariro Washinyira

Feature | 4 March 2015