Civil Society

SAPS accused of being disrespectful to Commission

Hearings and submissions of oral evidence started at the Commission of Inquiry in Khayelitsha today. The hall at Lookout Hill was packed with member of the Social Justice Coalition, residents of Khayelitsha, academics and journalists.

Adam Armstrong

News | 23 January 2014

Opening statement on behalf of the complainant organisations at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry

Opening statement on behalf of the complainant organisations at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha and a breakdown in relations between the community and police in Khayelitsha.

Peter Hathorn, Ncumisa Mayosi, Michael Bishop

Opinion | 23 January 2014

Will the cars be safe here?

It was another sweltering hot day as the Commission of Inquiry continued its inspections around Khayelitsha. Crime hotspots and locations for community courts were visited. These include Nkanini, Harare Park and Ilitha Park.

Adam Armstrong

News | 23 January 2014

The week in political activism

This week, we cover the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, what’s happening in education and the patent wars.

Brent Meersman and GroundUp Staff

News | 22 January 2014

Understanding the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry

The Commission of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha starts today. Here’s a quick and simple guide to it.

Adam Armstrong

News | 21 January 2014

Mshengu toilets down again

Mshengu’s blue chemical toilets have once again toppled over in Khayelitsha’s BM Section causing residents to defecate in the bushes.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 15 January 2014

Phillipi settlement battle highlights housing problems

On 7 and 8 January, the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolished more than 40 homes at the Marikana settlement in Philippi East. There has been ongoing conflict between the City and the residents who have settled on this plot of privately owned land just off Symphony Way.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

Feature | 15 January 2014

Rent a crowd protest - an attack on media freedom

Cape Times editor Alide Dasnois was fired by Iqbal Surve, executive chairperson of the Sekunjalo Consortium, the day after Mandela’s death.

Shireen Mukadam

Opinion | 18 December 2013

Cape Times demo: plot thickens

It now appears that it was the fairly recently ordained pastor and political changeling, Wesley Douglas, who was one of the organisers of the group that gatecrashed a Right to Know (R2K) protest in Cape Town yesterday.

Terry Bell

News | 18 December 2013

Goons attempt to disrupt protest for press freedom

The saga of the Cape Times and South Africa’s Independent Newspapers (INL) group plumbed new depths of farce this afternoon (December 17) when a rent-a-crowd arrived in the city to support the putative new owner, Iqbal Survé.

Terry Bell

News | 17 December 2013

Week in political activism

This week we have reports from Lawyers for Human Rights about refugees being prevented from informal trading, and SERI who successfully represented Johannesburg's informal traders at the Constitutional Court.

Compiled by Brent Meersman

News | 12 December 2013

South Africa is at an economic impasse - an interview with Mark Heywood

Mark Heywood has been one of the leaders of the Treatment Action Campaign since it started on 10 December 1998. He has also directed the AIDS Law Project since 1997 and its successor, SECTION27.

GroundUp Staff

News | 10 December 2013

Media freedom

The Independent Newspaper Group (INL) is in considerable turmoil following the effective sacking without notice of the editor of the Cape Times, Alide Desnois, by the putative owner of INL, Iqbal Surve. This bodes ill for the group and poses a possible threat to media freedom.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 9 December 2013

The week in political activism

This week we report on a petition to impeach the President, norms and standards for schools, TAC's march in Limpopo and the Cape Town Informal Settlements Coalition.

Brent Meersman and GroundUp staff

News | 4 December 2013

Awethu! - the people demand a better democracy

At a mass meeting on 28 November 2013, academics and activists from dozens of organisations, social movements, and local citizen groups from eight provinces came together as Awethu!.

Koketso Moeti

News | 2 December 2013

The week in political activism

This week we have reports from Corruption Watch, Equal Education and SWEAT.

Brent Meersman

News | 27 November 2013