Human Rights

Ebola: the difficult return from the front

The health care workers who put their lives at risk to fight Ebola should be honoured, not quarantined, writes Kathryn Stinson, who recently returned from Sierra Leone.

Kathryn Stinson

Opinion | 20 November 2014

Link between poor housing, traffic deaths and education outcomes

The 7th annual Irene Grootboom Memorial Dialogues, which explore the continuation of Cape Town’s “spatial apartheid”, are underway. On Tuesday night, the focus was on the spate of shack evictions around the city this year, and the correlation between poor, densely populated areas and traffic deaths and education outcomes.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 19 November 2014

Hout Bay man arrested by 18 cops has bail extended

Santonio Jonkers let out a sigh of frustration as he was told for the third time that his court case was postponed, this time till next year.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Brief | 13 November 2014

Not enough dentists or doctors, long queues: Nyanga residents protest

Members of the Treatment Action Campaign and residents marched today in Nyanga to protest about poor health services in Nyanga and surrounding townships.

Zintle Swana

News | 12 November 2014

Over a million children fall through foster care cracks

Over a million orphans and abused, neglected, and abandoned children in South Africa are falling through the cracks of an overburdened foster care system.

Joyce Xi

Feature | 12 November 2014

Who is behind Confessions of a Bisexual Chick?

A year ago, Ntombikayise Matyumza of Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape started a Facebook page aimed at gay and lesbian youth. Today she has more than 14,000 followers across the country.

Pharie Sefali

News | 12 November 2014

Disabled Khayelitsha resident has to use neighbours’ toilet

Disabled Site C resident Vincent Gaelejwe, 43, lives in a one-roomed shack and has nowhere to keep the portable toilet supplied by the City of Cape Town. Instead, he limps to his neighbour’s house every day to use the portable toilet there.

Zintle Swana

News | 11 November 2014

Poor sanitation and lousy maps contribute to Khayelitsha’s crime problems

Following the Khayelitsha Inquiry into Policing, a series of meetings are being organised between SAPS and the Khayelitsha community. One took place at the University of Cape Town's middle campus on the weekend.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 11 November 2014

SAPS to investigate torture in Zimbabwe

South Africa’s highest court has ordered the police to investigate allegations of torture by Zimbabwe police carried out in Zimbabwe on Zimbabwean nationals.

Carmel Rickard

News | 7 November 2014

Marikana: World Bank loan undermines Lonmin’s arguments, says academic

During the hearings of the Marikana Commission, Lonmin executives said the company had not been able to afford to keep its 2006 promise to build 5,500 new houses for workers. Yet a year later, in 2007, the International Finance Corporation had made finance of US$150 million available to Lonmin - part of it for a "large-scale community development programme".

Alide Dasnois

News | 7 November 2014

ArcelorMittal and environmental groups battle it out in court

Can civil society organisations compel private companies to provide documents about their impact on the environment? This is the central question in a court battle that reached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein yesterday.

GroundUp staff

News | 7 November 2014

Sheriff demolishes Walmer Estate shacks, then cancels eviction

After demolishing three structures, the sheriff of the court aborted the eviction of fourteen shack dwellers in Walmer Estate late on Thursday afternoon. As the sun was setting, the households who had lost their homes were hastily erecting temporary shelter.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 6 November 2014

Marikana: Phiyega “not fit for office”

Riah Phiyega is not fit to hold the office of National Commissioner of Police, say the Marikana Commission’s evidence leaders.

Alide Dasnois

News | 5 November 2014

Marikana: Lonmin’s broken promises

Lonmin has broken its promises to build housing for employees, say the Marikana Commission's evidence leaders.

Alide Dasnois

News | 5 November 2014

Marikana: how the police “constructed” their story

Police evidence to the Marikana Commission was "constructed" at a meeting in Potchefstroom soon after the massacre of 34 miners in 2012, according to the commission’s evidence leaders.

Alide Dasnois

News | 5 November 2014

How magistrates and local government are failing to uphold the Constitution

The Constitution and legislation protect vulnerable people from being evicted into homelessness. But for 14 shack-dwellers in Walmer Estate this is exactly what is happening, writes Daneel Knoetze.

Daneel Knoetze

Analysis | 3 November 2014