A house after waiting 13 years, and other stories

Featured stories

A house after waiting 13 years

Since 2001, Thembisa Maso has been sent pillar to post by the City of Cape Town, the Department of Human Settlements, housing committees and ward councilors, only to be disappointed. Finally, she will be able to move into her home by the end of this week.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Game of drones: City tests underway

City of Cape Town drone tests are underway, with a new model demonstrated to officials and journalists last week. Critics are uninformed, malicious and have watched \xe2\x80\x9ctoo many movies\xe2\x80\x9d, officials say.

Daneel Knoetze

Reports

Eviction by the back door

Shackdwellers from the original settlement in Marikana, Philippi, are celebrating a court interdict which will protect them from being arbitrarily evicted \xe2\x80\x9cthrough the back door\xe2\x80\x9d. Interdicts secured by landowners and municipalities are supposed to prohibit further settlement. Yet they are often so vague that they allow for people who have already settled to be removed.

Daneel Knoetze

Factions fuel violence at Durban hostel

Sitting on a worn-out green sofa outside Durban\xe2\x80\x99s giant Glebelands hostel, Thulani Kati describes in graphic detail his alleged torture by a special police unit on 2 October this year.

Fatima Asmal and Barbara Maregele

Lonmin investor rapped over the knuckles

The powerful International Finance Corporation has been sharply rapped over the knuckles in an ombudsman\xe2\x80\x99s report on its US $50 million investment in Lonmin.

Alide Dasnois

Bapo ba Mogale community loses out in Lonmin deal

It has taken Lonmin Plc a decade to cut the Bapo ba Mogale community a 3.3% slice of the company that mines platinum on its land. In the same period, Lonmin has served up an ownership share more than five times bigger to Shanduka Resources \xe2\x80\x93 a black empowerment company founded by ANC stalwart Cyril Ramaphosa \xe2\x80\x93 and sauced it with a series of loans and dispensations to keep it fresh.

Brendan Boyle

Khayelitsha police, community and activists find ways to tackle crime

The police, civil society and Khayelitsha community activists are beginning to work together to give effect to the commission of inquiry into policing's recommendations. Here's an update on progress so far, and plans for next year.

Daneel Knoetze

Domestic workers denied UIF by employers

Too many employers of domestic workers refuse to comply with the Unemployment Insurance Fund, leaving their employees seriously short changed.

Zintle Swana

In brief

World Aids Day: TAC still needed

About 200 people gathered at The Orbit in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on World Aids Day in support of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). The TAC is trying to raise R30million for 2015 in order to continue doing its work.

GroundUp Staff

Donors respond generously to GroundUp article on sanitary pads

In November, GroundUp published an article on learners using socks and all manner of items as sanitary pads. Donations have been streaming in to the GroundUp offices ever since. These will be distributed to schools.

GroundUp staff

Opinion

Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance claim court victory

Steel Valley communities\xe2\x80\x99 victory against ArcelorMittal is a victory for pollution-affected communities across the country, writes Melissa Fourie.

Melissa Fourie

Militarisation and depoliticisation in South Africa today

One of the striking features of South African politics in recent years is its re-militarisation - a tendency for political issues to be addressed or resolved by force. This is part of a wider problem of violence suffusing South African society in general - that people, especially men, vent their anger with violence rather than discuss what has caused them to be annoyed in areas unrelated to politics, for example so-called \xe2\x80\x9croad rage\xe2\x80\x9d.

Raymond Suttner

SACP: the biggest potential loser in Cosatu crisis

Politically, the biggest potential loser in the ongoing and increasingly bitter fracas within Cosatu and its affiliates is the smallest member of the ANC-led tripartite alliance, the South African Communist Party. That party\xe2\x80\x99s Medium Term Vision, described in some party documents as a \xe2\x80\x9cten-year plan\xe2\x80\x9d looks close to being in tatters.

Terry Bell

Arts

Gugulethu showcase of talent

Gugulethu was at a standstill on the weekend when dancers and artists showed their talents at the Community Creative District launch. Houses were turned into art galleries, streets into stages, putting everyone in a jovial mood to see art in their area.

Siyabonga Kalipa

Sport

Teaching Khayelitsha children to swim

Nondumiso Marman used to fear water but now she teaches Khayelitsha children how to swim.

Siyabonga Kalipa