Human Rights
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
Bank drives woman to brink of homelessness
Kutala Mtyali's sits on the couch of her house, perhaps for the last day, and tries to piece together the ongoing saga of her 26 year struggle to keep her home. Family members help her with names and dates. She is on the brink of homelessness.
Jared Sacks
News | 9 December 2013
Nelson Mandela: An interview with Zackie Achmat
Nelson Mandela has died. He inspired and led the struggle for freedom and against the oppression of apartheid. GroundUp interviewed Zackie Achmat about Mandela. In the 2000s, Achmat led the struggle for life-saving medicines for people with HIV.
GroundUp Staff
News | 6 December 2013
What’s it like to be gay or lesbian in Khayelitsha?
On 14 December, the Desmond Tutu Foundation will host a beauty pageant called Mr and Miss Gay Ekasi in Salt River. Most participants will be from Khayelitsha and other Cape Town townships. Does the popularity of events like these mean it is becoming easier to be gay or lesbian in Cape Town’s largest township?
Pharie Sefali
News | 28 November 2013
Improving teaching and schools: an interview with the leaders of Equal Education
Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, is expected to adopt minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure at the end of this week.
GroundUp Staff
News | 27 November 2013
Life-saving TB drug costs R676 per pill!
Over 15,000 people were diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa last year. The risk of death for people with ordinary treatable TB is high. But it is much higher for patients whose illness cannot be treated using the standard TB medicines.
Koketso Moeti and GroundUp staff
News | 26 November 2013
“How do you expect 550 boys to share six toilets?”
The bell rings for break time, triggering a mad rush for the toilet. Many learners won’t make it in time. After all, “how do you expect 550 boys to share six toilets … when there is only one break?”
Brad Brockman
Opinion | 26 November 2013
Parow soup kitchen offers vital service to hungry and homeless
Louis Titus, a 60-year-old married man from Elsies River, was introduced to the Vineyard soup kitchen in Parow four months ago by a friend. Titus worked for the City of Cape Town for 20 years. He currently receives a R1,500 monthly pension. His wife is unemployed. Titus takes the food he receives home to his four children.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 20 November 2013
Can urban upgrading create safer communities?
The third lecture of this year’s Grootboom Memorial Dialogue Series took place at the Woodstock Town hall last night. Hosted by the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), the dialogue explored the impact of urban design interventions on the safety and security of people living in informal settlements.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
News | 20 November 2013