BRICS has come and gone. It has been driven from the headlines by Jacob Zuma using the hopes and aspirations of the millions who vote for the ANC as a means to enrich his narrow circle of crony capitalists through misuse of the SANDF in the Central African Republic. But before the memory of BRICS fades, let's remember the B in BRICS is for Brazil, a country with which South Africa is often compared.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 3 April 2013
On a cold afternoon in July 2010, a group of us met in Newtown to
distribute pamphlets around the Johannesburg CBD and hotspots of the
2008 "xenophobic" attacks, such as Diepsloot etc. We were only about
twelve, so we had to break into groups of four.
Malaika Mahlatsi
Opinion | 3 April 2013
This is the first of an occasional new feature science column from GroundUp. We hope these short articles will make science more popular and encourage learners to study science. Today's article by Kerry Gordon describes how in 2011, game players solved a difficult science problem.
Kerry Gordon
News | 3 April 2013
Civil society organisations led by the Treatment Action Campaign marched on 22 March to an event addressed by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi at a school in Khayelitsha in anticipation of World Tuberculosis (TB) day.
Mary-Jane Matsolo
News | 29 March 2013
When Premier Helen Zille was bitten by a rat last week, her spokesperson was quoted saying, “I know the City Bowl rats are mutant freaks of nature but if they’re starting to take nibbles out of people, we’re in trouble." However, as this story of a Khayelitsha baby bitten by a rat shows, in some parts of the City, rats are no laughing matter and rats "taking nibbles out of people" are not that unusual.
Mary-Jane Matsolo
News | 27 March 2013
New season, new presenter, same time, same channel. Education and health television programme Siyayinqoba Beat-It! will air its first episode of season 8 next week Thursday on SABC 1 at 1:30pm.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 27 March 2013
On Saturday, Bafana Bafana beat Central African Republic 2-0 in their vital World Cup qualifier at the Cape Town stadium. We asked Capetonians for their views on the game.
Margo Fortune
News | 27 March 2013
This is the first in a series of articles by Jack Lewis which puts forward ideas to start a discussion on the need for a programme which can unify the work which many great campaigning organisations are doing.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 27 March 2013
Elias Dyasi, former SANCO chairperson of the Mxolisi Petani branch and security officer at a surgeory in Site C, was gunned down last week Monday. According to the police report he was gunned down by two different kinds of guns and the perpetrators made away with his security gun only and left behind his cell phone and wallet that still had R70.
Mary-Jane Matsolo
News | 27 March 2013
Gamat Abrahams of Athlone was one of seven men in their 20s arrested for possession of dagga on Friday night. They were sitting on the paving outside their homes when the police raided.
Margo Fortune
Brief | 27 March 2013
The causes of the poor and the dispossessed continue to be manipulated by politicians
and unscrupulous individuals bent on accumulating power, personal wealth or both.
As a result, there is much cynical use and distortion of the evidence and of statements
emanating from painful occurrences such as the deaths at Marikana or the conflict in
the Boland winelands.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 27 March 2013
A memorial service was held in Khayelitsha stadium on 21 March for the victims of the Hex River bus accident on 15 March 2013.
Nokubonga Yawa
Brief | 27 March 2013
On the 15th of March Jared Sacks, a journalist and activist, published an article in the Mail & Guardian asking whether or not Steve Biko, the Steve Biko of 1977, would have supported Mamphele Ramphele’s recent political initiative. Some people, including people who had been close to Biko, really liked the piece. Others, including the well-known public commentator Andile Mngxitama, didn’t like it at all.
Zackie Achmat and Richard Pithouse
Opinion | 27 March 2013
Khayelitsha’s popular coffee shop, the Department of Coffee (DOC), was burgled in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 26 March 2013
"[W]henever we see that little white bastard called Jared Sacks we must beat the shit out of him ... " This was written by well-known journalist and black-consciousness writer, Andile Mngxitama, on his Facebook page.
Nathan Geffen
News | 25 March 2013
Last night Equal Education held a public hearing in Cape Town to address the Minister of Basic Education's draft document on the minimum norms and standards for schools. The organisation believes Minister Angie Motshekga's draft is unsatisfactory.
Fergus Turner
News | 21 March 2013
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