The man accused of hitting murder victim Rowan du Preez multiple times with a golf stick the night before he was found severely burned, told the court he was at home watching movies at the time.
Barbara Maregele
News | 7 August 2014
On 6 August, shackdweller movement Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) marched on the the Austrian honourary consul in Durban to protest the eviction of squatting “comrades” under way in Vienna. This, in reciprocation of months of solidarity and support from people and organisations based in Europe and the United States for AbM.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 6 August 2014
It started on 16 July in Langebaan at Freeport block of flats. Immigrants were deported with nothing on them. Deportees, leaving friends and relatives behind, lost their possessions, furniture and money. Then on 31 July, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) raided a block of flats in Somerset West and Sholoza Villa in Kraaifontein. Immigrants who did not have documents -- mainly Congolese, Tanzanians, Malawians and Zimbabweans -- were arrested.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 6 August 2014
In June, the homes of hundreds of Nomzamo informal settlement residents, who were living on SANRAL-owned land, were demolished. The evictions resulted in violent clashes between residents and police. Lulama Ndevu, 33, her partner Soyiso Jackman, and their children, including their three-week-old son Nkosana, are the first family to move into the newly built corrugated iron homes in Nomzamo. The couple, who have two older children aged three and eighteen months, moved into their new 8 metre by 6 metre home in July. Ndevu nearly gave birth inside the community hall where hundreds of destitute residents are still being housed. Ndevu says she was nine-months pregnant at the time when she was kicked and assaulted by police during the violent clash. As a result, she couldn't walk until she gave birth on 7 July.
Masixole Feni and Barbara Maregele
News | 6 August 2014
A new organization called Public Transport Voice has launched itself at the offices of the Treatment Action Campaign, Khayelitsha. The organisation plans to educate people through workshops about the transport system and how it works. It also aims to conduct training for taxi drivers on how to conduct themselves appropriately to customers.
Pharie Sefali
News | 6 August 2014
In temperatures near freezing, the Joostenberg family were left with little option but to spend the night amongst their possessions on the side of the road. For a second time, they were evicted from their home by a sheriff of the court, their possessions carried out and transported off the farm where the family has lived for 50 years, and dumped next to the R318 outside Montagu.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 6 August 2014
Isaac Mbadu, who is accused of killing Rowan du Preez nearly two years ago, took the stand this week to give his account of the events which led to his arrest. Mbadu, his wife Angy Peter, and their co-accused Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina, are on trial in the Western Cape High Court for the kidnapping, assault and murder of Du Preez in October 2012.
Barbara Maregele
News | 6 August 2014
In June, the homes of hundreds of Nomzamo informal settlement residents, who were living on SANRAL-owned land, were demolished. The evictions resulted in violent clashes between residents and police. Lulama Ndevu, 33, her partner Soyiso Jackman, and their children, including their three-week-old son Nkosana, are the first family to move into the newly built corrugated iron homes in Nomzamo. The couple, who have two older children aged three and eighteen months, moved into their new 8 metre by 6 metre home in July. Ndevu nearly gave birth inside the community hall where hundreds of destitute residents are still being housed. Ndevu says she was nine-months pregnant at the time when she was kicked and assaulted by police during the violent clash. As a result, she couldn't walk until she gave birth on 7 July.
Masixole Feni and Barbara Maregele
News | 6 August 2014
Community outreach programmes will be a focus of Women’s Month in parts of the Western Cape affected by a high incidence of violence against women and children, provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer has said.
Johnnie Isaac
Brief | 5 August 2014
People should view taverns as part of the community, where young people can meet to enjoy themselves, and not as enemies, community activists told a meeting at the weekend of the Kuyasa branch of the Treatment Action Campaign.
Munda Kula
Brief | 5 August 2014
27-year-old Mayenzeke Gwija from Khayelitsha was born disabled in both legs. But he has not let disability get in the way of becoming a success in sport. He is currently ranked fifth by Wheelchair Tennis of South Africa.
Siyabonga Kalipa
News | 5 August 2014
Rubble dumping on the fringe of Siqalo informal settlement has forced hundreds of shackdwellers to evacuate their homes. Those on the fringe of the settlement have experienced large boulders hitting their shacks. The mound from the dumping, which has shot up since the beginning of the year, has prevented winter rains from draining - leaving dozens of households flooded and abandoned. Yet, the owner of the plot adjacent to Siqalo who allows the dumping to go ahead unchecked, claims that the mound is a necessary safety barrier between his land and the settlement.
Masixole Feni
News | 5 August 2014
20 years after the Rwandan genocide, the political intrigues and legal ambiguities of its aftermath are still being played out in South Africa among the expat community. Requests from Kigali for the extradition of several Rwandans living in South Africa heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
Lara Sokoloff
News | 5 August 2014
Rubble dumping on the fringe of Siqalo informal settlement has forced hundreds of shackdwellers to evacuate their homes. Boulders have rolled into shacks; dumping has prevented winter rains from draining, leaving dozens of households flooded and abandoned. Yet the dumping carries on unchecked.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 5 August 2014
“A scab’s charter.” This was one published description of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) when it came into being 19 years ago. Because, although the bulk of the Act was warmly accepted by the labour movement, it contained a clause that seemed to undermine its basic precept.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 5 August 2014
Rubble dumping on the fringe of Siqalo informal settlement has forced hundreds of shackdwellers to evacuate their homes. Those on the fringe of the settlement have experienced large boulders hitting their shacks. The mound from the dumping, which has shot up since the beginning of the year, has prevented winter rains from draining - leaving dozens of households flooded and abandoned. Yet, the owner of the plot adjacent to Siqalo who allows the dumping to go ahead unchecked, claims that the mound is a necessary safety barrier between his land and the settlement.
Masixole Feni
News | 5 August 2014
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