Civil Society

Battle over stipends in public works programme

Bambanani is an organisation that provides community safety. It operates as a public works programme under the auspices of the Department of Community and Safety. But some of their employees --or volunteers, depending on your perspective-- are frustrated with the stipends they receive.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 27 October 2014

Police: the facts behind the Commissioner’s “good story”

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Policing should ask police management some tough questions, writes Zackie Achmat in the second in a series of articles on policing.

Zackie Achmat

Opinion | 24 October 2014

Residents march for essential services

The City of Cape Town has been given 14 working days to respond to a memorandum of demands from the residents of Marikana, Rolihlahla Park and Klipfontein informal settlements.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 24 October 2014

Police: Parliament must ask tough questions

It’s annual report season in Parliament, and the new Portfolio Committee on Police is finding its feet. In the first in a series of articles, Zackie Achmat has some suggestions for the committee.

Zackie Achmat

Opinion | 23 October 2014

Getting health care to sex workers in Cape Town

Leigh Davids was born a boy, but when she was five, she realised she wanted to be a girl.

Katy Scott and GroundUp Staff

News | 20 October 2014

Tackling rape in Khayelitsha

Between two and three rapes are reported every day to a single centre in Khayelitsha. And the numbers will probably rise at the end of the year.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 20 October 2014

Week in activism

This week we look at Greenpeace’s call on government to make Eskom comply with pollution laws, a report prepared for Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and a call for the Department of Home Affairs to recognise transgender rights.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 17 October 2014

Makhaza residents protest at Matthew Goniwe clinic

Inadequate treatment, disrespectful staff members, and lost patient folders have become common at the Matthew Goniwe Clinic in Makhaza, say residents, who marched in protest on 16 October.

Joyce Xi

News | 17 October 2014

Marking “Black Wednesday”: how to ensure media freedom

Sunday October 19 marks the commemoration of ā€˜Black Wednesday’, the day in 1977 that the apartheid government banned a range of publications sympathetic to the Black Consciousness Movement, and arrested a group of journalists and editors.

Mark Weinberg

Opinion | 17 October 2014

Hangberg residents demonstrate outside court

Hangberg residents demonstrated at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in support of Santonio Jonkers who made his second appearance in court.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 17 October 2014

Ceres murder trial moved to High Court

The trial of Christo Oncker, 28, accused of the murder of a gay man in Ceres in April, is to be moved to the Western Cape High Court, magistrate Japie Mapomie said in the Ceres magistrate’s court on Thursday.

Pharie Sefali

News | 17 October 2014

R400 million firearms control system in shambles

Pressure is mounting on the police to sort out problems with a R400 million firearms control system, ten years after the contract to develop it was signed with Pretoria-based company Waymark Infotech.

Daneel Knoetze

Feature | 17 October 2014

Why judges matter: beyond the Dewani case

Not far from the High Court where Shrien Dewani is on trial for murder, the Judicial Service Commission is interviewing candidate judges. The Dewani trial is getting all the attention, but the selection of judges affects us all.

Rudo Chitapi

Opinion | 8 October 2014

Week in activism

This week we look at the SERI’s workshop on law related to eviction, the social dialogue for the gay and lesbian community, TAC’s march for better services and IOM’s public debate on human trafficking.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 8 October 2014

Activists to Sonnenberg: City must engage constructively on sanitation

Yesterday the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) published a social audit of the state of municipal public toilets in Khayelitsha. Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg responded. This is a reply by the SJC's Axolile Notywala and Dustin Kramer to Councillor Sonnenberg.

Axolile Notywala and Dustin Kramer

Opinion | 2 October 2014

Shackdwellers celebrate after City eviction squad backs down

Shackdwellers from Philippi East’s Mangaung informal settlement cheered after they successfully faced off the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) on Wednesday.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 2 October 2014