Local government
Commissioner klaps SAPS for inefficiency
At the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, the morning got off to a rocky start for the SAPS legal counsel with Chairperson Justice Kate O’Regan again verbally reprimanding them.
Adam Armstrong
News | 27 January 2014
Mshengu toilets down again
Mshengu’s blue chemical toilets have once again toppled over in Khayelitsha’s BM Section causing residents to defecate in the bushes.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 15 January 2014
Labour Department fails to follow up on sick workers’ claims
On 13 November 2013, GroundUp reported that Cassiem Mahommed has been waiting for over six years for compensation from the City of Cape Town for asbestosis. The Department of Labour immediately contacted GroundUp after publication and promised to follow up with Mahommed Disturbingly, there has been no progress on the matter.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 14 January 2014
Improvement in Khayelitsha street lights
On the evening of 2 December 2013, Groundup staff visited Lansdowne Road in Khayelitsha to assess the state of street lights in the area. We counted 29 lights that were not functional. Overall, it appears that the state of street lights has improved since our last report on the issue in August 2013.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 11 December 2013
Drought and debt for Northern Cape small farmers
In the middle of a drought, small scale subsistence farmers on the outskirts of Paballelo in the Northern Cape are facing a bill of R1.3 million for water.
Selby Nomnganga
News | 5 December 2013
Young artists say no support from local government
GroundUp met with a group of young hip-hop and spaza music makers. The group complain that they have been at it for three years, but don’t get any support from local businesses and government.
Pharie Sefali
News | 4 December 2013
“We’ve lost hope in our government”
Several houses in Gugulethu were damaged by the heavy rainfall this weekend. Hombazi Fiphaza, a resident from Kanana Square informal settlement, said, “We go through the same thing everytime there is heavy rainfall … What pains me the most is watching the children suffer because of it, and there is nothing you can do to protect them from it.”
Nwabisa Pondoyi
News | 21 November 2013
No-show in RR Section by Disaster Management after flooding?
“When we called Disaster Risk Management on Saturday, they sent one man … He said he would be back in a couple of hours, with provisions for a hundred people, including sand bags and stones to protect houses from further water damage, as well as food. They never came back,” says Luthando Tokota a community advocate with the Social Justice Coalition.
Delphine Pedeboy
News | 20 November 2013
Dozens of unpaid asbestosis claims leave sick workers unsupported for years
Cassiem Mohammed is a 70-year-old retired boiler cleaner from the now-closed Athlone Power Station (APS). He was diagnosed with asbestosis (fibrosis of the lung) in the mid-1990s from exposure to asbestos while he was working at the APS.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 13 November 2013