Economy
Strikers refuse to be misled
The curse of spin and speculation is well and truly upon us. It could hardly be otherwise, with a major strike on the platinum mines underway, a general election looming and the labour movement facing the biggest crisis in its history.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 18 February 2014
Red tape blocks Khayelitsha small businesses
Entrepreneurs from two successful businesses in Khayelitsha are frustrated with the red tape that is blocking their businesses from growing.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 12 February 2014
SASSA fails to pay grants on time in Gugulethu and Mitchell’s Plain
There is a large backlog in social grant payments at South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA) branches in Gugulethu and Mitchell's Plain. Beneficiaries who have not received their grants in months are accusing the state agency of incompetence.
Pharie Sefali
News | 22 January 2014
Mandela and the dangers of deification
As everyone from monarchs to the labouring masses this week sought to share in the Mandela memorial moment, the myth machine went into overdrive, the very machine Mandela had so disparaged when I sat with him in his Johannesburg office in 1992. One sentence he uttered then has resonated with me throughout the years: “I am no messiah.”
Terry Bell
Opinion | 17 December 2013
Toward a more realistic NDP - start with education and jobs
It is two years since the first authoring of the National Development Plan (NDP), and over a year since the delivery of the revised plan by the National Planning Commission (NPC). To speed up progress, we must stop squabbling over which parts of it to implement and focus initially on education and labour-intensive industries.
Ayal Belling
Opinion | 21 November 2013
Poverty and waste - the other side of Grahamstown
On the edge of the university hamlet of Grahamstown, there’s a municipal dump where people discard trash. It’s far enough out of town to not smell the stench – or for most locals not to be reminded of the haunting plight of the poor who subsist off the waste.
Mandy de Waal
Feature | 20 November 2013
Parents take out loans for matric dances
Parents every year complain about the demands grade 12 learners have for their end of the year matric dances.
Pharie Sefali
News | 13 November 2013
Economic apartheid and the builders of the world city
Christmas is clearly coming. The store decorations are in place and chocolate Santas jostle on the shelves with strings of lights on ornamental trees while bins of festive season toffees and biscuit specials vie to keep the tills ringing.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 12 November 2013
A changed world requires ditching dogma
Trade unions the world over are embattled and apparently finding difficulty adapting to the changed circumstances of this century. To varying degrees they react to challenges in the manner of decades past, without apparently realising the potential they have to influence the way forward in what is a changed world.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 6 November 2013