Economy

Media reports on protest action lack depth and context — media monitor

Palls of thick smoke hung over the N2 mid-September 2014, after protesters from the farming town of Grabouw, some 20 kilometres from Gordon’s Bay, barricaded the national highway with burning tyres. Rubber bullets flew and canisters of teargas exploded as the police met protesters head on.

Mandy de Waal

Analysis | 30 September 2014

Waiting for hours in tax queues

Filing income tax manually at a South African Revenue Service (SARS) branch can be a day’s mission, involving hours of travel and standing in a queue.

Johnnie Isaac, Joyce Xi and Thembela Ntongana

News | 15 September 2014

Salt River “improvement” deprives car guards of income

Car guards outside the Old Biscuit Mill have been left without an income after the newly operational Salt River Business Improvement District (SRBID) told them to leave.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 12 September 2014

Six-year-old and siblings survive by begging for food

A kid known as Didi, who is six, walks the Nyanga streets asking people for bread and for money to buy sweets and chips. Didi says that sometimes he sleeps without eating; when he wakes up, he and his siblings have to go and look for food.

Pharie Sefali

News | 12 September 2014

Women who beat the odds: Khayelitsha’s Nokuthula Sibaba

Thanks to a successful woman, people in Khayelitsha don’t have to go to a mall to buy pizza - they can go to a pizza stand in Litha Park.

Pharie Sefali

News | 20 August 2014

Department of Coffee opens new branches

Muffin runs, a pop up shop, a new range of coffee beans and now training volunteers to be baristas -- Khayelitsha’s first coffee shop, the Department of Coffee (DOC) is growing and showing no signs of slowing down.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 11 August 2014

So long and thanks for all the fish

Clans living near Kosi Bay have used an ancient fish trapping system to create a livelihood for themselves and their families for centuries. But as population pressure rises, increasing the twin stressors of poverty and unemployment, how long will the fragile balance between humans and nature provide a bountiful catch? Mandy de Waal travelled to uMhlabuyalingana for GroundUp. Jon Pienaar took the photographs.

Mandy de Waal and Jon Pienaar

Feature | 31 July 2014

Inequality: Why Isaacs is half right and half wrong

Gilad Isaacs makes valid criticisms of Mike Schussler’s arguments on inequality, but he makes a number of mistakes of his own, writes Jeremy Seekings.

Jeremy Seekings

Opinion | 30 July 2014

Minister promises to expand child support grant, but no tangible progress yet

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini announced plans in June to expand child support grant eligibility from age 18 to 23.

Michelle Korte

News | 25 July 2014