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How to buy your driver's license
Attempts to clean up corruption at the Lingelethu West Traffic Station in Khayelitsha appear to be failing. GroundUp went undercover and recorded an offer of a bribe by an outside operator, and also spoke to others who were either asked to pay a bribe or who did bribe their way to being allowed behind the wheel.
News
Nyanga celebrates first gay pride march
On Saturday 18 March about 300 people gathered at NY1 Gugulethu and marched to the Nyanga Football Stadium in the first gay pride march in Nyanga.
Controversial youth website dodges censorship
“Outoilet” is an Afrikaans word meaning “old toilet”, but it also refers to a cellphone chat site, aimed mainly at Cape Flats youth. Its URLs are blocked by several service providers, but the site frequently re-emerges with different URLs.
Gang killers suspected of targeting another boy
Last week, 17-year old Enrico Martin was shot dead at his high school in Athlone. Natheer Abrahams is 16-years old and is being bullied and threatened by gangsters. He suspects they are the same ones that killed Enrico.
Investigate and stop this mundane everyday corruption
Today GroundUp published a story, with the assistance of The Cape Times, of corruption at Lingelethu West Traffic Department in Khayelitsha. We tell how the buying of learner's and driver's licenses is commonplace and show that there is the perception, arguably a reasonable one in some areas, that a bribe is necessary to get a driver's license.
Activist group accuses City of failing to monitor toilet contracts
On 27 April the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) held a meeting in Khayelitsha to report the results of an audit of toilets provided by a supplier contracted to the City of Cape Town. On 10 May the SJC released a written report of the audit's findings.
‘Prodigal daughters' speak out at Franschoek literary festival
The exile experience of women in the liberation movements — a largely neglected aspect of recent South African history — will feature this year at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in a discussion involving the octogenarian feminist writer, Lauretta Ngcobo.
Paul Kasonkomona fights for fair trial
Paul Kasonkomona, an HIV/Aids activist based in Zambia, appeared in the Lusaka Magistrate's Court today (15 May) on charges of idle and disorderly behaviour. He was arrested last month after calling on the Zambian government to decriminalise homosexuality and to respect the human rights of gay people, prisoners, and sex workers. Kasonkomona's case was postponed today after his defence attorneys, SBN Legal Practitioners, filed a constitutional application on two grounds.
Opinion
On Friday Judge Phalatsi ordered that 13-year old Lerato Radebe be immediately readmitted to her school in Welkom. Every morning since 26 February Lerato was removed from her classroom and marched to the staff-room where she was made to spend the school day sitting idly. This was done because Lerato, whose family is Rastafarian, wears dreadlocks in her hair.Sport
What a challenging weekend it was for Cape Town's PSL teams. Ajax played Golden Arrows at Cape Town stadium needing three points to stay in the PSL. Mabhuti Khenyeza scored the opening goal followed by Toriq Losper and Khenyeza again, saving Ajax from relegation. But Chippa United's fate is still unclear. Opinion
The trade union movement is in a state of flux, with concepts such as centralised bargaining and the “winner takes all” approach of majority — 50 per cent plus one — unionism now being challenged. “Agency shop” agreements whereby majority unions take a slice of the subscriptions paid by members of smaller unions, let alone the much bigger question of party political alignments are also being seriously debated.Opinion
This week I finally signed up as a donor to Equal Education. I'd been meaning to do it for a long time. Small as my contribution is I'd like to urge all who can afford even R20 per month to start supporting the social movements. Here's what motivated me to finally sign that debit order form.