Cape Town’s strelitzia man

Every day between 3pm and 7pm, at the traffic lights on the corner of Buitengracht Street and Buitensingel in the Cape Town city centre, you’re likely to see a man with a bunch of orange strelitzia flowers.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 22 April 2015

“They just came to our home and slapped me”

Nowela Mukeyo, an 11-year-old Grade 5 pupil at an Isipingo primary school in Durban, calls a tent on the Isipingo football ground home.

Chris Makhaye

News | 22 April 2015

The way we punish

South Africa is often branded as a country with a high incarceration rate. In certain respects, this is true. For with 290 people per 100,000 imprisoned, it has the highest incarceration rate in Africa. But there is much more to prison population rates than a national head count of bodies behind bars.

Clare Ballard

Opinion | 22 April 2015

Xenophobia: let’s avoid the easy answers

Much has been written about why the recent wave of xenophobic attacks took place. But it's more complex than the usual reasons given, argue the authors.

Matthias Krönke and Mpho Raboeane

Opinion | 21 April 2015

Taxi drivers burn vehicles and attack reporters in Nyanga

At least three Golden Arrow buses and a delivery vehicle were set alight in Nyanga, apparently by taxi drivers who are demanding that the City Metro Police return their cars that were impounded yesterday.

Nombulelo Damba

News | 21 April 2015

Family of four die in Hangberg fire

A family of four was killed and eleven bungalows burned to the ground in a Hangberg shack fire early on Sunday morning.

Kimon de Greef

News | 21 April 2015

Crossroads woman accuses social worker of keeping her pension

A grandmother from Crossroads has accused a social worker of keeping back part of her old age grant of R1,350 per month.

Nombulelo Damba

News | 21 April 2015

Love and marriage in the midst of hateful xenophobia

Not even a series of xenophobic attacks in the city of Pietermaritzburg could stop the preparations for an Ethiopian man and South African woman to tie the knot. 27-year-old Thandeka Mkhwanazi and Mali Wondawock, 26, hosted neighbours and residents at their home in Cinderella Park at their Umembeso ceremony on Saturday.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 20 April 2015

Some light amid the labour gloom

News on the labour front over the recent past — and the past week — has involved ongoing infighting, death threats, an assassination, and the petrol bombing of a union president’s house. Little wonder then that an important labour law development has gone largely unnoticed.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 20 April 2015

EFF and Denel battle over land

While land occupiers lose their materials and possessions after being evicted, state defence manufacturer Denel accuses the EFF of manipulating the poor when instigating occupations of land it owns.

Nombulelo Damba

News | 17 April 2015

Living in constant fear of attack in Pietermaritzburg

Foreign nationals in the townships of Greater Edendale in Pietermaritzburg have closed their shops as xenophobic attacks spread. Shops were looted during the day and again at night on Wednesday.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 17 April 2015

Langa restaurant on show at Africa’s biggest tourism event

Six years ago, 51-year-old Nomonde Siyaka transformed her family's home in Langa into a two-storey traditional African food restaurant.

Barbara Maregele

News | 16 April 2015

Cape Town foreigners uneasy after Durban attacks

Authorities in Cape Town will “not just stand by” and watch if xenophobia spreads to the city again, says J P Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security. But foreigners living in the city are nervous.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 16 April 2015

UCT and transformation part two: the students

Is the University of Cape Town (UCT) transforming? In this, the second article in our series, we look at how the student body is changing.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 16 April 2015

Will Phiyega survive? Parliament refuses to approve SAPS budget

Craig Oosthuizen describes the dramatic events in Parliament over the past two days that have put Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega's position under severe pressure.

Craig Oosthuizen

Opinion | 16 April 2015

Manenberg gogo complains of police violence

A 70-year-old Tambo Village resident says men wearing police uniforms and balaclavas twice forced their way into her house looking for guns and drugs.

Nombulelo Damba

News | 15 April 2015