Government

Living in cardboard shacks … inside a hostel

“The condition that these people live in is uncalled for,” says Ward 52 Councillor Mayenzeke Sopaqa. He is describing a derelict area in Section 18, Langa, known as Emaholweni, established 45 years ago in what has become a no-man’s-land, all but abandoned by the authorities.

Photos by Masixole Feni and Liza Kettil.Text by Thembela Ntongana

News | 19 November 2015

Report details “state of crisis” in schools for visually impaired children

Schools for the visually impaired are in such a "state of crisis" that their students suffer "fundamental impairment of their human dignity”. This is according to SECTION27’s Left in the Dark report, which was released today, detailing extensive research into the conditions in 22 schools for the visually impaired.

Ashleigh Furlong

News | 18 November 2015

Time to demand equal rights for blind people

Being blind or visually impaired means many things in life are simply much more difficult than what they are for other people. Some of these things we can do something about, others we can’t. There are two fundamentally different ways for society and governments to respond to this unpleasant reality. The one option is pity and non-integration - the other is to forget about pity and to take practical steps to make things as equal as possible so that blind people can integrate into society.

Marcus Low

Opinion | 18 November 2015

The damning evidence against Phiyega and SAPS leadership

Suspended Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega has had a difficult year. Suspended by President Jacob Zuma following the Farlam Commission report which called for an investigation into her fitness to hold office for among other things tampering with evidence and lying, she now faces significant findings against her from an inquiry by the Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko.

Craig Oosthuizen and Zackie Achmat

Analysis | 13 November 2015

The debt machine and the politics of 0%

The current wave of student protests in South Africa has been mostly analysed from a national and local perspective.

Achille Mbembe

Opinion | 13 November 2015

Masiphumelele will get a police station - when it’s safe

Masiphumelele residents who have been promised a new mobile police station will have to wait until the police decide it’s safe to install it.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 12 November 2015

Waste pickers protest over access to dump site

Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades today against waste pickers protesting at a dump site in Pietermaritzburg against plans to stop them collecting on the site.

Ntombi Mbomvu

News | 11 November 2015

Government job freeze alarms health professionals

No vacant posts in Eastern Cape public hospitals and clinics are to be filled until December, according to a departmental circular. The Rural Health Advocacy Project fears that if such measures continue it could have “catastrophic consequences for health care”, especially in the rural areas.

Ashleigh Furlong

News | 9 November 2015

Zakhele Mbhele of the DA replies to R2K’s Murray Hunter

Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister for police, MP Zakhele Mbhele, replies to Murray Hunter's DA's shadow bill misses the key point on the National Key Points Act.

Zakhele Mbhele

News | 9 November 2015