Feature

Changing your gender in South Africa

“I have some very vivid memories of when I was really young, say four or five years old, my grandmother would dress me in women’s clothing and say, ‘Look at my granddaughter’, but also in a playful way,' says Sandile Ndelu, a transgender woman, who is a law student at UCT.

Ashleigh Furlong

Feature | 15 September 2015

Historic pigeon race unites fanciers

At dawn on Saturday 12 September more than 15,000 homing pigeons were released from Hanover in the Northern Cape, kicking off the largest single pigeon race in South African history. The birds burst into the air and began circling to orientate themselves. Within ten minutes they had vanished, setting off on the 600 km journey home.

Kimon de Greef

Feature | 14 September 2015

“If my baby is dead, why don’t they just tell me?”

After recovering from a difficult labour, Nolitha Kamana went to look for her baby in the hospital wards, only to find the child in the mortuary. Her story is one of scores collected by the Treatment Action Campaign highlighting problems in maternity and obstetrics units in Cape Town. GroundUp's Mary-Anne Gontsana spoke to some of the women.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Feature | 9 September 2015

Some of SA’s top companies are quietly breaking the law

Some of the top companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are flouting environmental laws and not telling their shareholders, according to a study by the Centre for Environmental Rights.

Alide Dasnois

Feature | 8 September 2015

Buffalo City janitors have to pay for their own toilet cleaning materials

Janitors employed by the Buffalo City municipality in East London to clean toilets say they are forced to pay for cleaning materials and gloves from their own salaries.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Feature | 3 September 2015

Jobs more important than smells, say Hangberg residents

The proposed closure of Oceana’s Hout Bay Fishmeal and Fish Oil Facility is worrying people of Hangberg, where many employees live.

Ashleigh Furlong

Feature | 2 September 2015

When temporary housing isn’t temporary

“They promised us that we would stay for a short period of time. They didn’t keep their promise,” says Amelia Nono, who came to Intersite, a temporary relocation area (TRA) in Langa, nine years ago.

Ashleigh Furlong

Feature | 18 August 2015

Trucking company fires unionised employees

Six Zimbabwean men have accused a Stikland trucking company of dismissing them for having joined the Motor Transport Workers’ Union of South Africa (MTWU). They accuse the company of exploitation and ill treatment, and claim they are owed pay.

Tariro Washinyira

Feature | 6 August 2015

The slow privatisation of workers’ compensation

Little by little, the management of compensation for sick and injured workers is being shifted from the state to the private sector — and in view of the problems in the Workers’ Compensation Fund, this may not be a bad thing, writes Pete Lewis.

Pete Lewis

Feature | 5 August 2015