ANC calls for “deregistration of TAC”

The ANC Youth League Free State has called for the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to be deregistered. This follows TAC's "Fire Benny" campaign, which calls for the dismissal of the province's Health MEC Benny Malakoane.

Nathan Geffen and GroundUp Staff

News | 19 February 2015

Commuters must organise to improve Metrorail

The Metrorail website claims that it carries up to two million passengers per day countrywide. Finding a reliable estimate of how many people commute daily using trains in the Western Cape is challenging. Estimates range from 300,000 to over 700,000. Whatever the number, a lot of people, mostly working class, depend on trains to get to and from work.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 19 February 2015

Delays, faults and failures: what is to be done about Metrorail?

Persistent train delays cause constant problems for Metrorail commuters. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), which owns Metrorail, plans to fix South Africa’s ageing and poorly maintained rail infrastructure.

Kevin Elliott

News | 19 February 2015

Shack demolished because of an unauthorised extension - says family

A family of six say they were left scrambling for material to rebuild their shack after it was demolished on Wednesday morning.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 19 February 2015

Fifty Shades of Grey: it makes On Golden Pond look erotic

I bring you an announcement of national, no, international import: I have watched 50 Shades so that you don’t have to. Sensitive souls and family members must stop reading this now.

Francois Venter

News | 19 February 2015

Love is Blind: The youth wage subsidy and the South African media

Some media houses are cheerleading for the youth wage subsidy, despite the available evidence strongly suggesting that it is already a R2bn waste of public money.

Doron Isaacs

Opinion | 19 February 2015

Poverty report strengthens COSATU’s case for national minimum wage and comprehensive social security

The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ argument for a national minimum wage, comprehensive social secuity, and a basic income grant was greatly strengthened by the report released by Statistics SA on 3 February 2015, which exposed the shocking extent and continued persistence of extreme levels of poverty, writes the organisation's General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Zwelinzima Vavi

Opinion | 19 February 2015

De Lille to meet Siqalo committee as rubbish piles up

Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille will meet community leaders from Siqalo on Wednesday evening, to discuss grievances that led to violent protests in the Mitchell’s Plain informal settlement two weeks ago. De Lille condemned the protests, but community leaders maintain that residents only went on the rampage weeks after a letter to the mayor had gone unanswered.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 18 February 2015

Life line for kids in Nomzamo with special educational needs

Bishop Sibonile Gcilitshane and his wife, Pastor Lindiwe, created a life line for children who have special educational needs when they opened a skill centre in Nomzamo township near Strand.

Zintle Swana

News | 18 February 2015

Parow police accused of abusing immigrants

On 6 February, Bernard Toyambi of People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) alleges his family was left traumatised after a group of more than 12 armed Parow Police officers broke into his house at midnight, claiming that they had received an anonymous call that there was a woman crying in his house.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 18 February 2015

Report Flemix legal team to the law society says advocate Anton Katz

A group of creditors used “trickery” to have emolument attachment orders served on unsuspecting consumers, advocate Anton Katz told the Western Cape High court yesterday.

Barbara Maregele

News | 17 February 2015

Meet the Xhosa rap duo from Langa and Lwandle

Sandisile 'Skillz' Ntleki and Silindokuhle 'Slie' Baka form rap duo Xhosa Tribe. These lyrical masterminds from Langa and Lwandle respectively have enough finesse and bars to rival iFani and maybe even cause Khuli Chana to break a sweat.

Zethu Gqola

News | 17 February 2015

Soweto hostel dwellers repelled

Last week, residents of Soweto’s Mzimhlophe Women’s Hostel were at the forefront of a crowd that occupied 66 new homes at the hostel site which have stood empty for over seven years.

Mosa Damane

News | 17 February 2015

Gugulethu standoff underscores struggle for urban land

The City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement evicted land occupiers near Gugulethu on Saturday morning – demolishing six shacks before violent protests erupted. By Monday calm had returned to the community, but the frustrations of shack dwellers from KwaKiki and Sweethome Farm informal settlements continue unrelieved. As police remain on site, residents have vowed that their struggle for land will continue.

Daneel Knoetze

Feature | 16 February 2015

Advocacy group takes large credit firm to court over deductions

On Monday, the University of Stellenboch Legal Aid Clinic will take a group of creditors to court in a bid to have alleged illegal emolument attachment orders declared null and void.

Barbara Maregele

News | 16 February 2015

A silver lining for the post office?

Every cloud has a silver lining. This expression implies that there is some good in every troubled circumstance. Yet it is often difficult to find that silver lining in terms of benefits gained or lessons learned. However, in the present shambles that is the Post Office many workers and trade unions seem to have learned a valuable lesson: nationalisation — state control — does not necessarily mean any improvement.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 16 February 2015