Human Rights

Spotlight on social grants: Sassa’s bid to stop illegal deductions

Every month, money is deducted from the accounts of hundreds of beneficiaries of social grants without their permission. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is working to get the money refunded. But according to the Black Sash, the system Sassa has set up does not work.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: Net1 - the company that runs the grant payment system

The South African government’s massive social security payment system is managed by a subsidiary of Net1, a company listed on stock exchanges in the United States and Johannesburg.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: How grants are used to back loans

Some social grant beneficiaries are so deeply in debt that much of each month’s grant goes to paying back a loan.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Spotlight on social grants: How the system works

It’s 6:30am on a cold Wednesday morning and about 50 people, mostly women with babies, are already queuing outside the South African Social Security Agency office in the Delft library to apply for their child support grants.

GroundUp Staff

Feature | 7 October 2015

Time to reposition one of Africa’s great debates: gay rights

Over the past few years, we have seen an explosion of arguments for and against gay rights in Africa. Those in favour of gay rights point out that they can help to protect sexual minorities by making discrimination illegal, in the process making societies more equitable. Those opposed to gay rights allege that homosexuality only arrived with Europeans, that gay rights are a threat to the African nation, and a threat to the heterosexual family.

Andrew Tucker

Opinion | 6 October 2015

Life-saving drug stopped by sole supplier

South Africa is running out of an essential medicine for treating very sick patients with tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant bacterial infections. Many hospitals are already out of stock.

GroundUp Staff

News | 5 October 2015

Stop hiding behind sub judice

"I can't comment - the matter is sub judice." This is the refrain beloved of senior politicians from Cyril Ramaphosa to Nathi Nhleko to Thandi Modise to Baleka Mbete to President Zuma himself when faced with a difficult question.

Leo Boonzaier

Analysis | 2 October 2015

South Africa’s real nutrition problems

Based on how much of our public space Tim Noakes and the Banting diet occupy, you might think that one of the most important nutrition problems facing South Africa is the carbohydrate vs fat intake in our diets. It just isn’t.

Ashleigh Furlong

News | 2 October 2015

“Application dismissed” - a reflection on My Vote Counts, and losing

To hear those two words from a majority of the Constitutional Court after another wave of tireless campaigning on one of the oldest and most fundamental issues we face as a country was brutal.

Gregory Solik

Opinion | 1 October 2015