Opinion
City chooses not to invest in informal settlements
The City of Cape Town says infrastructure for water and sanitation cannot be installed in 82% of informal settlements because the land is not suitable. Yet the City’s own data tells a different story, writes Dustin Kramer.
Dustin Kramer
Opinion | 28 May 2015
Progress in public sector wage negotiations, but key issues remain unresolved
My column last week, comparing the pay and conditions of nurses and teachers to those of cabinet ministers, seems to have touched a raw nerve. And mainly among both national and local government employees that I failed to mention.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 25 May 2015
Why mining communities will take government to court
Mining companies and the government are ignoring the interests of the communities that should be benefiting from mining, writes the author. Now civil society organisations intend to take legal action.
Christopher Rutledge
Opinion | 21 May 2015
Operation Fiela: Sweeping Dignity Aside
Just under a month ago today, South Africa was shocked by the images on the cover of the Sunday Times on 19 April 2015. The images depicted Emmanuel Sithole, a Mozambican man and breadwinner for his family, lying on his back amongst rubbish as he pleaded with three men bearing knives standing above him, moments before they fatally stabbed him in cold blood.
Lara Wallis
Opinion | 18 May 2015
Extraordinary wage inequality among those paid with public money
South Africa is desperately short of nurses and many highly skilled practitioners are now over the age of 50 and nearing retirement. Yet there are estimated to be more than 30,000 South African nurses working abroad, everywhere from Dubai to Dublin.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 18 May 2015
“What is your business in Council?” - My experience trying to participate in the City of Cape Town’s budget
Every year the mayor calls for residents to participate in the budget process by making submissions on Cape Town's draft budget. Last year fewer than forty people wrote submissions and only 23 were from the public. This has been the trend for the last couple of years.
Axolile Notywala
Opinion | 14 May 2015
On D-Day for public sector wage agreement, consider lopsided government salaries
Don’t blame workers for poor management. And feel some sympathy for any competent managers, whether in a large school, a government department, or parastatal who often have to deal with a legacy of maladministration, all too often accompanied by levels of corruption.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 11 May 2015
How Virginia de Azevedo has improved our health
Dr Virginia de Azevedo, the City Health Manager in Khayelitsha, has become a target of SAMWU strike action which affects ten City of Cape Town run clinics in Khayelitsha.
Lynne Wilkinson
Opinion | 7 May 2015
On being black in UCT’s law faculty
Amid all the furore over the removal of the Rhodes statute, a crucial point must be made and reiterated: the Rhodes statue is not merely a symbol for the continued exclusion of black students, it is also the lived experience for many black students -- as the experiences of black students at the UCT Law School shows.
Johan Lorenzen, Thamsanqa Malusi and Kevin Minofu
Opinion | 6 May 2015