Articles for Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

The small town whose residents live in fear for their lives

Residents of Busila near Gatyana (Willowvale) say they have lost faith in the police after two houses were set alight by unknown men in the early hours, Tuesday. Since July, four people have been killed and five houses set alight. Residents say police are failing to protect them.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 8 October 2015

Mdantsane construction workers strike

Construction workers in Walter Sisulu in Mdantsane are refusing to work on the RDP houses being built by the municipality, claiming they are being underpaid.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Brief | 17 September 2015

Angry Mdantsane residents protest quality of RDP houses

Residents of Walter Sisulu in Mdantsane protested on Tuesday, claiming the RDP houses they were due to move into had not been built properly.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 9 September 2015

How poverty interferes with dreams: Andiswa Nkuphe’s story

Andiswa Nkuphe lives with her eight siblings. Their house is a shipping container. Despite good school results and ambitions of becoming a nurse, she has to take care of her siblings, because their mother has been sick for almost two years and she's been in hospital since January this year.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 8 September 2015

Buffalo City janitors have to pay for their own toilet cleaning materials

Janitors employed by the Buffalo City municipality in East London to clean toilets say they are forced to pay for cleaning materials and gloves from their own salaries.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Feature | 3 September 2015

Scam exposes township title deed confusion

A housing dispute in Mfuleni demonstrates how the informal process of transferring title deeds for RDP houses can lead to people losing their money and their homes.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and Siphesihle Matyila

News | 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

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

“It’s no one’s dream to clean bucket toilets”

Thandekile Madikane tells his children that he works at the airport. He does not want his children to laugh at him for the job he does. But his job is vital. He is part of the city's operation to clean portable toilets.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 31 July 2015

Tsunami residents accuse City and Province of playing games

Angry residents of the Tsunami informal settlement in Delft have accused the City and provincial government of playing games with them.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 29 July 2015

Corruption in government employment programme results in strike

About 100 workers from the Community Work Programme (CWP) in Philippi went on strike on Monday, accusing their boss of fraud and nepotism.

Siphesihle Matyila and Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 29 July 2015

Khayelitsha residents stuck with severe lack of police resources

Eleven months after the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into policing released its finding that the South African Police Service (SAPS) allocation of resources was unfair and irrational, the situation has hardly improved. Khayelitsha residents still suffer from a severe lack of police resources and there are still reports of poor communication and distrust between the police and the community.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 23 July 2015

Dispute over jobs sparks protest in Barcelona informal settlement

A battle over jobs at Mawose Cleaning Services, contracted by the City of Cape Town to clean Barcelona informal settlement, sparked a protest which cut off a section of the N2 highway on Sunday night.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 20 July 2015

Swanepoel yindoda!

Skin colour is a thing of the past, says a white man from East London, Gonubie area, who recently entered manhood in the Xhosa tradition.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 16 July 2015

Good Hope Construction: workers’ demands still being probed

The Building Industry Bargaining Council is investigating employees’ claims that money is still owed to the Council by Good Hope Construction (GHC), target of a protracted strike during which one employee died.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and GroundUp staff

News | 14 July 2015

Dunoon parents start own school

Dunoon parents have turned to the Equal Education Law Centre for help after their children could not find spaces in the nearest schools. The community has now occupied temporary classrooms and started their own school while they wait.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

News | 13 July 2015