Residents of Kanana informal settlement in Gugulethu have blamed power cuts for a fire that left over a hundred people homeless on Friday evening.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 8 December 2014
Josh Budlender and Johan Lorenzen argue that the reasons given by the University of Cape Town (UCT) for the minimum wage of outsourced workers in 2015 do not make sense.
Josh Budlender and Johan Lorenzen
Analysis | 8 December 2014
Nearly 17 years ago, sitting behind a slightly battered desk in Cape Town’s Salt River, Myrtle Witbooi told me that the dream of domestic workers being “treated like other workers” would not die. “We want a living wage and proper hours. It is a dream…but we will get there,” said the woman who, in Cape Town in 1965, convened the first organisational meeting of domestic workers.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 8 December 2014
Approved Joe Slovo housing beneficiaries, who were deemed to be “too young” by government to receive houses in October, this week moved into their new units at the N2 Gateway development. Other families, who remain behind in the informal settlement, and who are now being moved to make space for the next phase of the housing development, remain unhappy.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 5 December 2014
With summer heat and seasonal gale force southeaster winds, it is a time of high risk for shack fires. There were 123 fires in the past month in informal settlements in the Western Cape. This December, load shedding may well be adding to that risk. GroundUp visited a family in the aftermath of a recent shack fire to see how they are coping.
Pharie Sefali
News | 5 December 2014
Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) employees came in their hundreds to picket outside the City of Cape Town offices in the Civic Centre on Thursday. They were demanding permanent employment. Protesters went to several entrances to the building while waiting for their representatives who were meeting with the City officials.
Johnnie Isaac
Brief | 4 December 2014
Some NGOs with no membership that cast themselves as "radical" misuse grassroots organisations for their own purposes, writes Ayanda Kota.
Ayanda Kota
Opinion | 4 December 2014
A Robertson farm worker has laid a charge of assault against his employer after allegedly being “slapped and choked” on Wednesday morning. The attack, he said, was punishment for inviting a farm workers’ union leader onto the property. A case of assault is being investigated by the police.
Kimon de Greef
News | 4 December 2014
The journey to school is long and tough for many pupils. Some have to travel for hours on foot to get to school. The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) recently collected affidavits in rural KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) which were “truly incredible and devastating”.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 4 December 2014
It has taken Lonmin Plc a decade to cut the Bapo ba Mogale community a 3.3% slice of the company that mines platinum on its land. In the same period, Lonmin has served up an ownership share more than five times bigger to Shanduka Resources – a black empowerment
company founded by ANC stalwart Cyril Ramaphosa – and sauced it with a series of loans and dispensations to keep it fresh.
Brendan Boyle
News | 4 December 2014
Police have confirmed that live ammunition was used yesterday against people looting rice from a broken-down truck near Mbizana in the Eastern Cape. Two people were killed.
Pharie Sefali and Daneel Knoetze
News | 3 December 2014
Too many employers of domestic workers refuse to comply with the Unemployment Insurance Fund, leaving their employees seriously short changed.
Zintle Swana
News | 3 December 2014
The powerful International Finance Corporation has been sharply rapped over the knuckles in an ombudsman’s report on its US $50 million investment in Lonmin.
Alide Dasnois
News | 3 December 2014
Nondumiso Marman used to fear water but now she teaches Khayelitsha children how to swim.
Siyabonga Kalipa
News | 3 December 2014
City of Cape Town drone tests are underway, with a new model demonstrated to officials and journalists last week. Critics are uninformed, malicious and have watched “too many movies”, officials say.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 3 December 2014
Steel Valley communities’ victory against ArcelorMittal is a victory for pollution-affected communities across the country, writes Melissa Fourie.
Melissa Fourie
Opinion | 3 December 2014
The water quality of the dam is nothing less than pathetic and shocking. The safe water sports have… Read more
There are solutions to these problems listed in the article regarding the sewerage spillages etc an… Read more
The call for the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre to designate Israel’s actions in Gaza as a… Read more
Another government contract, another dramatic increase in costs and another promise of a turnaround… Read more