Shortage of drug that prevents babies from getting HIV

The National Department of Health (NDoH) has sent out a circular nationally to all doctors, nurses and pharmacists informing them of a shortage of a paediatric anti-AIDS drug called nevirapine, used to prevent HIV infection in the newborn children of mothers with HIV.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 2 September 2014

Healthcare workers worry injecting heroin on increase

Sunday 31 August was International Overdose Awareness Day. Health workers in Cape Town have warned of a possible increase in drug overdoses and the spread of infectious diseases, including HIV, if the use of needles to inject drugs increases.

Ian Broughton

News | 2 September 2014

Circumcision just got easier

In a bid to get thousands of men in the Western Cape circumcised, the national department of health (NDoH) officially cut the ribbon to launch the new mobile theatres which will be going around the Cape’s remote areas, to get males circumcised.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 1 September 2014

Marikana evictions: bail hearing postponed

Twelve men arrested for public violence, among other charges, while resisting evictions in Philippi East have been incarcerated for more than a week. Their case was again postponed at the Athlone Magistrates Court this morning. The accused will now remain in custody until 12 September, when their bail application will be heard.

Daneel Knoetze

Brief | 1 September 2014

What the law has to say about evictions

The law on evictions has changed since the landmark Grootboom judgment in the Constitutional Court in 2000. But the recent spate of evictions and demolitions of shelters in informal settlements in the Western Cape – Lwandle, Philippi East, and Khayelitsha – must make the right to housing ring hollow for those left homeless, writes Sandra Liebenberg.

Sandra Liebenberg

News | 1 September 2014

Business shoots itself in the wages foot

The opening salvoes have again been fired in another round in the war about a national minimum wage. And on both sides there are accusations of the selective choice of research to bolster arguments.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 1 September 2014

Khayelitsha commission: rift between police and community “not irretrievable”

The commission into policing in Khayelitsha has recommended that in order to restore a good working relationship with the community, the South African Police Services should promise to be respectful, transparent, and perform their duties in a professional manner.

Barbara Maregele

News | 29 August 2014

Police hammered on Lwandle eviction violence

At the Lwandle Commission of Inquiry today, the police were hammered for failing to engage community leaders in an attempt to prevent the escalation of violence during evictions at Lwandle informal settlement in June. Such a failure falls foul of the legal requirements for public order policing.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 28 August 2014

The slow rise of the female DJ

There are very few top female DJs in the official charts, but things are changing; being a DJ is no longer a boy’s club. For Women’s Month, Zethu Gqola speaks to two Cape Town trailblazers, DJs Sideshow and DJ Ruthy Pearl, on what it means to be female on the decks.

Zethu Gqola

Feature | 28 August 2014

In the footsteps of Dudley Lee: prisoners to sue government

Several prisoners intend suing the Department of Correctional Services because they contracted tuberculosis (TB) in prison.

GroundUp Staff

News | 28 August 2014

Angy Peter trial: judge wants police to explain mistakes

Police statements to the media after the arrest of Social Justice Coalition activists came under the spotlight in the Angy Peter trial today.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 28 August 2014

The week in activism

This week in political activism we look at calls for help from Grahamstown, the plight of coal communities, a symposium on gender equality, and documenting the struggles of four informal settlements in South Africa.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 27 August 2014

Tim Noakes and the responsibility of experts

One of the major medical advances of the last few decades has been the two-dose vaccine for children against measles. A responsible doctor or public health expert would not do anything to jeopardise public confidence in the vaccine. Yet this is exactly what UCT's Professor Tim Noakes did this past weekend, writes Nathan Geffen.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 27 August 2014

City responds to GroundUp on Valhalla Park protests

The City's Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services writes that the electrification project at Agstelaan in Valhalla Park has been halted for periods of time due to excessive and highly dangerous gang violence in the area.

Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg

News | 27 August 2014

School transport a nightmare

Every day hundreds of parents depend on private transport operators to get their children to school and back home. The quality of service varies. GroundUp found some disturbing stories.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Feature | 27 August 2014

Angy Peter trial: detective admits he did not investigate

Detective Constable Stanford Muthian acknowledged on Tuesday during the Angy Peter trial that he had not conducted his own investigation into the murder.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 27 August 2014