Human Rights

“Police were firing and I ran for cover”

An eye-witness to the eviction of hundreds of Nomzamo residents in June described the “chaotic” scene to the ministerial inquiry this morning.

Barbara Maregele

News | 15 July 2014

Death with dignity not only a debate for developed countries

Desmond Tutu's support for assisted dying made headlines across the world this week, and brought the debate into the mainstream in South Africa.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 15 July 2014

Lwandle inquiry begins

The ministerial inquiry into the eviction of hundreds of informal settlement residents in Nomzamo near Lwandle Strand began today.

Barbara Maregele

News | 14 July 2014

Stripping the tears of bleeding-heart feminists and other sex abolitionists

Are Cape Town city strip joints filled with sex slaves? Marlise Richter investigates.

Marlise Richter

Opinion | 11 July 2014

Towards an Understanding of Braamfontein Activism

Civil society activists in Johannesburg are usually associated with protest marches, t-shirts with cool slogans, and Braamfontein. As an employee of the South African Human Rights Commission, I attend meetings instead of protest marches and wear suits instead of cool t-shirts.

Kayum Ahmed

Opinion | 10 July 2014

Langa in mayhem as protesters demand housing

Hundreds of Langa residents took to the streets today to demand new houses. Several shops were looted, roads were closed and police used teargas and fired rubber bullets.

Zintle Swana and Thembela Ntongana

News | 9 July 2014

Lessons from the platinum strike: the poison of inequality

The timing, duration and intensity of the long strike on the platinum belt were fuelled by a familiar South African problem: persistent and very high inequality.

Gilad Isaacs

Opinion | 1 July 2014

Help! People are breathing here

Breathing air that does not damage health is one of the most important constitutional rights. But some municipalities on the polluted Mpumalanga Highveld are battling to enforce the Air Quality Act, writes Robyn Hugo.

Robyn Hugo

Opinion | 1 July 2014

Mother of four battles to survive

HIV-positive Zuziwe* from Nyanga is worried about how she is going to survive this winter because she says she doesn’t have enough food or blankets for her children.

Pharie Sefali

News | 1 July 2014

War resisters across Africa headed for Cape Town

From 4 to 8 July, Cape Town will host the first ever War Resisters International Conference to be held in Africa. The Pan-African conference will bring together representatives of grassroots movements from over 25 African countries.

Shireen Mukadam

News | 27 June 2014

The plight of informal street traders

Last week, GroundUp witnessed law enforcement officers confiscating the fruit of two street vendors on the corners of Belmont and Main Road, Rondebosch. They are among thousands of informal vendors breaking city bylaws to sell their goods at traffic lights and intersections across the City in order to make their daily living.

Barbara Maregele and Adam Armstrong

News | 26 June 2014

Babies found abandoned in Khayelitsha

Residents of Site B in Khayelitsha were shocked and angered after the body of a baby was found in a toilet last week. The tiny body lay between pieces of paper inside the bucket system toilet.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 26 June 2014

A week in political activism

This week we cover the imprisonment of Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, demands for a regional seminar about gender-based discrimination, anti-xenophobia efforts in De Doorns, and environmental research in Mpumalanga.

Michelle Korte

News | 25 June 2014

Minister Ramathlodi: more of the same, or the same, just more?

In the mining villages of Ga-Pila where Anglo Platinum continues to profit from land grabbed from the traditional communities just west of Mokopane, the appointment of the new Minister of Mineral Resources, Advocate Ngoako Ramathlodi, has been met with a sense of betrayal.

Christopher Rutledge

Opinion | 16 June 2014

Youth Day: Struggle for equal education continues

Nearly 40 years ago on 16 June 1976, there was a youth uprising in Soweto. This was evoked by the learners at the time who did not want to be taught in Afrikaans. Their struggle was against an inferior education system that was setting them up for failure.

Sizwe Zubenathi Mapapu

Opinion | 16 June 2014

Unanswered questions about Strand evictions

Ten days after several hundred people were evicted from the Nomzamo (Lwandle) informal settlement near Strand, there is still no clarity about why they were removed.

GroundUp Staff

News | 11 June 2014