Feature

Students in state scheme get certificates for courses they didn’t complete

The National Rural Youth Service Corps (Narysec), set up to train unemployed young people in rural areas, seems to be in disarray in the Eastern Cape, where some students have given up hope of graduating while others say they have been given certificates for courses they did not complete.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and GroundUp staff

Feature | 8 December 2015

Residents fight back against banks’ eviction tactics

A group called Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation is preparing a class action suit against the four major banks for what it says are the unlawful evictions of thousands of South Africans from their homes.

Ciaran Ryan

Feature | 2 December 2015

Can Dunoon overcome its housing problems?

In a dimly-lit room, about 50 people wait to have proof-of-residence documents authorised by Dunoon ward councillor Lubabalo Makeleni.

Steve Kretzmann

Feature | 27 November 2015

We’re like cockroaches to the City, say Johannesburg residents

The corridors are long and institution-like, lined by doors. Light peeks in through the staircase windows, but the corridors are dark, despite it being 10AM on a bright Johannesburg day.

Sarita Pillay

Feature | 20 November 2015

The great escape: Young women of the Flats in the clutches of gangs

“Every time they go murder somebody, the guns come to me, I clean it and I load it again,” says 21-year-old Shireen. “Yoh! … If you’re on drugs, you catch on to all the stuff, man. You’re not the same.”

Anne Gonschorek

Feature | 29 October 2015

Try getting an ambulance in this part of Grahamstown

Earlier this month, Health-e reported the difficulties of accessing ambulances in rural Eastern Cape. Here we report on how difficult it is to get an ambulance in a township as close as five kilometres from the nearest hospital.

Hancu Louw

Feature | 16 October 2015

Abortion stigma harms thousands of young women

Many South African women are still resorting to unsafe abortions with illegal providers, often with disastrous implications even though safe legal abortion has been available since 1997.

Thembela Ntongana

Feature | 12 October 2015

“Why we don’t do maths” - high school students explain

At the end of grade nine South African students are expected to decide which subjects they would like to continue with for the rest of high school. One of the important decisions they make is whether or not they will continue with maths, or take maths literacy. As five students explain, the decision is tough, affects their future, and is not always made freely and based on their true ability and interests.

Sarita Pillay

Feature | 9 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: Sassa’s bid to stop illegal deductions

Every month, money is deducted from the accounts of hundreds of beneficiaries of social grants without their permission. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is working to get the money refunded. But according to the Black Sash, the system Sassa has set up does not work.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015