The brutal kleptocracy of Equatorial Guinea hopes to gain a measure of international acceptance by hosting the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) soccer spectacle that kicked off this weekend, writes Terry Bell. The oil and gas wealth generated by this “Kuwait of Africa” provides the economic wherewithal for the ruling elite to buy favours while the bulk of the population wallows in repressive poverty. Bell was the only foreign journalist to cover the independence of Equatorial Guinea more than 46 years ago.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 January 2015
Once again, there is a furore about plans to name a major Cape Town street after former apartheid president FW de Klerk. As well there should be, although there is considerable support for the proposal.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 January 2015
Charlie Hebdo journalist Laurent Leger is no stranger to South African newspaper readers. Over the last ten years or so, as a freelancer, Laurent has written several reports for South African newspapers on the French connection in the arms deal, and also on failed attempts to find the killers of ANC Paris representative Dulcie September.
Alide Dasnois
Opinion | 13 January 2015
The question of whether Prophet Muhammad can be depicted in Islam is something that perhaps most Muslims have failed to explain. With every cartoon or drawing, most people wonder why Muslims are in such an uproar – and admittedly, in some cases in a manner that is frankly unbefitting of the Prophet himself.
A’Eysha Kassiem
Opinion | 13 January 2015
Lack of jobs for black graduates was among concerns raised by young people in a meeting with deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa in Mfuleni yesterday.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 7 January 2015
The ANC is one of the few political organisations in the world that has existed for over 100 years. It remains powerful electorally and although it received less votes than before in last year's national general election, it could well still be returned as the ruling party for the foreseeable future.
Raymond Suttner
Opinion | 6 January 2015
On 23 December Judge Dennis Davis delivered an oral judgment in the case between the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the speaker of the National Assembly. Here is the text of that judgment.
GroundUp Staff
Brief | 1 January 2015
Some NGOs with no membership that cast themselves as "radical" misuse grassroots organisations for their own purposes, writes Ayanda Kota.
Ayanda Kota
Opinion | 4 December 2014
The powerful International Finance Corporation has been sharply rapped over the knuckles in an ombudsman’s report on its US $50 million investment in Lonmin.
Alide Dasnois
News | 3 December 2014
One of the striking features of South African politics in recent years is its re-militarisation - a tendency for political issues to be addressed or resolved by force. This is part of a wider problem of violence suffusing South African society in general - that people, especially men, vent their anger with violence rather than discuss what has caused them to be annoyed in areas unrelated to politics, for example so-called “road rage”.
Raymond Suttner
Opinion | 2 December 2014
Politically, the biggest potential loser in the ongoing and increasingly bitter fracas within Cosatu and its affiliates is the smallest member of the ANC-led tripartite alliance, the South African Communist Party (SACP). That party’s Medium Term Vision (MTV), described in some party documents as a “ten-year plan” looks close to being in tatters.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 30 November 2014
Sitting on a worn-out green sofa outside Durban’s giant Glebelands hostel, Thulani Kati describes in graphic detail his alleged torture by a special police unit on 2 October this year.
Fatima Asmal and Barbara Maregele
Feature | 28 November 2014
On Thursday, residents of Marikana informal settlement’s Rolihlahla Park section welcomed a Western Cape High Court postponement of an eviction hearing. The court ordered that the City of Cape Town compile an audit of the households living on the erf in question to determine who will need emergency temporary accommodation if an eviction order is granted.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 21 November 2014
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
Ses’khona Peoples Rights Movement has given the Western Cape regional office of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa seven working days to respond to its memorandum of demands.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 6 November 2014
Cape Times opinion page editor and veteran journalist Tony Weaver has been called before a disciplinary hearing after questioning a suggestion to crop out the logo of an advertiser from a news photo of a mall robbery.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 31 October 2014