Coping with chronic epilepsy while living in a shack: one family’s story

Siphokazi Rululu (14) and her father, Ayanda Qhara, both suffer from chronic epilepsy. Her mother leaves for work in a restaurant chain kitchen at 6am and returns at 7pm four-days a week. Siphokazi’s sister, who is seven years old, must sometimes care for her family during these times.

Pharie Sefali

News | 9 June 2015

Gun shots any time of day in Manenberg

This past weekend in gang-plagued Manenberg, a number of shootings took place once again in what community members refer to as one of those “worse weekends”.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 8 June 2015

De Waal Drive tenants mobilise against potential evictions

The De Waal Drive tenants’ campaign to resist relocation to Pelican Park is gaining momentum. This weekend signatures from most tenants to ratify their elected committee were gathered, and yesterday the committee had a strategic session with the South Road Families Association (SRFA).

Daneel Knoetze

Opinion | 8 June 2015

Burundians burnt out in Lower Crossroads

It is almost a week since violence between Marikana and Lower Crossroads residents in Cape Town erupted leaving a trail of destruction. Four Burundians, bystanders caught up in the devastation, are now struggling to pick up their lives.

Bernard Chiguvare

News | 8 June 2015

Cape Town’s all blind gospel group

After struggling for 14 years to get a recording deal, three blind performers from Cape Town will finally launch their CD next month.The three call themselves Treasured Voices. They sing gospel jazz. They say when they sing, people forget that they are blind.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 8 June 2015

FIFA, Qatar and the ugly game

The terrible tragedy of the earthquake in Nepal has been swept off the front pages and news leads by the bribery scandal and arrests at FIFA. But they should be linked because it is the blood and suffering of many Nepalese workers that is a major cause of soccer now being seen as the ugly game.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 8 June 2015

Where have all the medicines gone?

Drug shortages in South Africa’s health facilities have become a crisis. Today we report that Stanger Hospital and health facilities in Ilembe District KwaZulu-Natal are out of stock of over 200 products between them.

Ashleigh Furlong and Nathan Geffen

Feature | 6 June 2015

No arrests yet after construction strike death

No arrests have yet been made following the death of construction worker Melikhaya Pisana during the strike at Good Hope Construction.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 5 June 2015

Needed: black bone marrow donors

South Africa needs black people to donate their bone marrow. According to the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) there are more than 67,000 donors and only 4,100 are black.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 5 June 2015

Khayelitsha teenagers off to Sweden

Five teenagers from Khayelitsha are preparing to embark on a journey to Sweden to take part in an international programme.

Jon Adam Chen

News | 4 June 2015

Where the lambs have no eyes

When Manie Louw took over a farm outside Paternoster last year his neighbours warned him about three things: stock theft, jackals, and pied crows. Louw, a 53 year-old sheep farmer from Calvinia, grew up raising livestock, and thought himself familiar with the risks of the trade. He brought 42 aging Dorper ewes to the coast with him, hoping to fatten them for slaughter on the farm’s Strandveld vegetation. “I didn’t know what people meant about the crows,” he said.

Kimon de Greef

News | 4 June 2015

Has the president used the defence force legally?

To deploy the army is an exceptional measure. It implies that the police force is unable to control a situation that threatens a country’s security and well-being.

Lara Wallis

Analysis | 4 June 2015

Lwandle one year later: still no resolution

On 2 and 3 June a year ago the residents of Lwandle Strand were evicted from the SANRAL-owned land that they were occupying. Besides losing their homes, many also lost their belongings. Yesterday, the evicted residents of Lwandle protested despite heavy rains, demanding to be listened to about their problems.

Pharie Sefali

News | 3 June 2015

Artist Zwelethu Mthethwa up for murder: trial begins

On Tuesday, the murder trial of artist Zwelethu Mthethwa finally began after numerous postponements. Mthethwa is accused of killing Nokuphila Kumalo, a sex worker, and kicking her with his booted feet. Mthethwa is pleading not guilty to the charge which has a minimum sentence of 15 years.

Ashleigh Furlong

News | 3 June 2015

Mfuleni school kids taught in a shack

As Cape Town weather gets worse, some Grade R learners from Mfuleni are being taught in a cold leaking shack with just one toilet, because there is insufficient space for them in a proper school.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 3 June 2015

Masiphumelele school hopes for new hall

With winter underway, Ukanyo Primary School can no longer hold its parent-teacher meetings in the open. But the school has no hall, and no immediate prospect of getting one, says principal Phuthumile Michael Tyhali.

Bernard Chiguvare

Brief | 3 June 2015