Shacks demolished following miscommunication

About 20 Mfuleni residents were forced to demolish their shacks that they had erected after occupying open land in the township.

Mary-Anne Gontsana and Masixole Feni

Brief | 18 August 2015

Monwabisi Park residents lay charges against city law enforcement

On Friday, a number of community members from Monwabisi Park informal settlement laid a charge of malicious damage to property against City of Cape Town law enforcement after shacks were destroyed by the Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) last Wednesday.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 17 August 2015

Living permanently disabled after violent rape

A 43-year-old woman who was raped, and stabbed three times in her spine has been left disabled, paralyzed in her right arm and left leg, and unable to speak.

Pharie Sefali

News | 17 August 2015

Body of second drowned Hout Bay fisherman found

More than a week after he drowned, the body of Hangberg fisherman Faizel Lee was recovered on Saturday morning. Lee had been catching crayfish close to the Hout Bay fishing settlement. His father, Igsak, made the discovery opposite Duiker Island, near to where fellow fisherman Clint Jacobs’ body was found on 7 August. The two men drowned after going to sea in a wooden rowboat the evening before.

Kimon de Greef

Brief | 17 August 2015

Shortage of local heroes: temporary care volunteers needed

Over the past month, the Western Cape Department of Social Development [DSD] in Athlone has been searching for temporary care volunteers to be trained to house and care for vulnerable children who have either been removed from their homes by a social worker. This can happen for various reasons such as behavioural problems, becoming orphaned or parental neglect and abandonment.

Barbara Maregele

News | 17 August 2015

Court ruling helps injured workers

The South Gauteng High Court has delivered a judgment that promotes openness and helps people injured at work, or the families of people killed at work, realise their rights.

Tim Fish Hodgson

Analysis | 17 August 2015

Union in dire financial position after Constitutional Court dismisses appeal

The Constitutional Court dismissed the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU)’s plea to overturn a cost order by the Labour Court amounting to R600,000 in legal fees.

Mariska Morris

News | 17 August 2015

Mining people for profits

Large scale redundancies in the South African mining sector, running to tens of thousands of jobs, are probably inevitable. But only because of the system in which we have to operate.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 17 August 2015

Marikana: reminders of a massacre

Three years ago on this day, the police shot dead 34 miners at Marikana. Here are some of the articles we've published since then that, sadly, remain current and relevant.

GroundUp Staff

Analysis | 16 August 2015

Trending hairstyles in the township

From the German cut to the razor cut and from dreadlocks to braids, men and women in Cape Town’s townships have plenty of imagination when it comes to trending hairstyles.

Photos by Masixole FeniText by Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 14 August 2015

Police deny immigrants right to appear before a magistrate

On 13 August 2015, Potchefstroom police station cells security officer Buisanang Malefane told GroundUp on the phone that Malvern and Hamilton Mugwagwa, who are in their custody, have no right to appear before a magistrate because they are unlawfully in the country. They were arrested on 5 August 2015 at a roadblock in Potchefstroom on their way from Cape Town back to Zimbabwe.

Tariro Washinyira

Brief | 14 August 2015

City cannot continue to ignore the crisis at Wolwerivier

There is a deepening crisis of overcrowding, joblessness, insecurity and general destitution at Wolwerivier relocation camp. The community have explained their experiences, along with a call for engagement and support, in writing to the City of Cape Town. Their letter was ignored.

Daneel Knoetze

Opinion | 14 August 2015

Blikkiesdorp: what’s the plan?

Evictions are a daily part of living on the margins in South Africa. This week, residents were evicted from a block of flats in Berea, Johannesburg. Authorities descended early on Wednesday morning on the flats where hundreds are people are living. Their personal belongings – including fridges, clothes and computers – were left outside in the street. Where do such people go? In Cape Town, they have been sent to a place called Blikkiesdorp.

Alison Tilley

Opinion | 13 August 2015

Deaf man’s long wait for RDP house

When Zandisile Khobeni (61) received a letter showing that his housing subsidy application had been approved in 2011, he was over the moon with joy. He didn't know that four years later he would still be waiting for a house, even as the other people in his street received their RDP houses.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 13 August 2015

Phiyega must go, say activists

The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) and Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) have called for the resignation or dismissal of national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, saying she has failed the people of Khayelitsha and poor people in South Africa as a whole.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 12 August 2015

Community steps in to help family with epilepsy

Residents in Khayelitsha came out in their numbers at the weekend to celebrate the donation of a wheelchair and food parcel to a father and daughter who have epilepsy.

Pharie Sefali

News | 12 August 2015