Weekly newsletter 19 - 23 May 2014: Social grants being illegally deducted before reaching recipients and other stories

Featured Stories

Khayelitsha creche hoping for flush toilets at last

The founder of Suphumelela Day Care in Khayelitsha is hoping city officials will provide portable toilets for the creche children, who have been using buckets for a year.

Barbara Maregele

Capricorn violence: taxi drivers killing each other

News: Residents from Capricorn near Muizenberg are afraid to go to work and school because of violent clashes. There appears to be a taxi war with racial overtones.

Pharie Sefali

Social grants being illegally deducted before reaching recipients

News: Human rights advocacy NGO, Black Sash, have launched a country-wide campaign in a bid to stop illegal debt deductions from the grants of South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries.

Barbara Maregele

Reports

Eastern Cape voters explain why they voted the way they did

News: Three weeks after the general election, results are still being digested. GroundUp went to the Eastern Cape, to the rural settlement of Tsolo near Mthatha, and asked how and why people voted the way they did.

Pharie Sefali

Suspected ATM robbers beaten severely in Mfuleni

News: Two men suspected of ATM fraud were severely beaten and stoned in a mob attack at the taxi rank in Mfuleni on Wednesday afternoon.

Johnnie Isaac

Home Affairs says it will renew special Zimbabwean permits

News: Yesterday the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) announced that Cabinet approved the renewal of permits issued under the Special Dispensation for Zimbabweans.

Tariro Washinyira

\xe2\x80\x9cNow I can\xe2\x80\x99t afford groceries\xe2\x80\x9d - grant recipient after illegal debt deductions

News: Hundreds of Sassa beneficiaries who have become victims of unlawful debt deductions from their grants are struggling to make ends meet.

Barbara Maregele

Mother and disabled daughter face deportation after going to hospital

News: A 46-year-old Zimbabwean woman, Fortunate Makamba, and her 17-year-old disabled daughter, Alice Chitsuro, are facing deportation. Makamba arrived in 2012 after the Cape Town Refugee Reception Centre stopped granting asylum to newcomers.

Tariro Washinyira

Angy Peter trial

Was murder victim\xe2\x80\x99s dying declaration likely?

News: State prosecutor, Advocate Phistus Pelesa, continued to cross-examine Dr Almin Steyn in the Angy Peter trial on Thursday.

Adam Armstrong

Dying declaration unlikely testifies surgeon

News: Dr Elmin Steyn testified in the Angy Peter trial yesterday that it was \xe2\x80\x9cextremely unlikely\xe2\x80\x9d that someone in Rowan du Preez\xe2\x80\x99s condition would have been able to \xe2\x80\x9chave a long and complicated conversation\xe2\x80\x9d in which he identified his assailants.

Adam Armstrong

Laws of physics suspended - prosecutor

News: Forensic specialist Dr David Klatzow testified yesterday in the Angy Peter murder trial. The court is currently hearing a \xe2\x80\x9ctrial-within-a-trial\xe2\x80\x9d which will determine whether it was possible for the murdered man, Rowan du Preez, to have made his dying declaration, as the state alleges.

Adam Armstrong

Parties contest whether victim could have spoken before his death

News: Yesterday in the murder trial of Angy Peter, a medical expert for the state, Dr Estie Meyer, testified that she saw \xe2\x80\x9cno anatomical reason\xe2\x80\x9d why Rowan du Preez could not have spoken to the police after he was assaulted.

Adam Armstrong

Opinion

Why should South Africa decriminalise sex work?

Opinion: Two recent events brought the question of decriminalisation of sex work into the public eye. The first was the leaking of a draft policy document developed by Amnesty International advocating for decriminalisation of both the buying and selling of sex.

Ayesha Krige and Marlise Richter

Government should do more to protect communities from companies that destroy environment

Opinion: Tracey Davies explains how the Batlhabine community fought back against a mining company that ignored the law. She also argues that the Department of Mineral Resources should have done more to help.

Tracey Davies

The myth of the lady with the lamp

Opinion: Nursing unions and the media noted last week that Monday was a day dedicated to nurses, to those who treat the sick and the ailing. And, as they did so, they continued to perpetuate a myth.

Terry Bell

Obituary

Dudley Lee, who successfully sued government, has died

Obituary: Dudley Lee died at the age of 68 on 21 May in Victoria Hospital. He successfully sued the Minister of Correctional Services because he became ill with tuberculosis (TB) while awaiting trial in Pollsmoor prison.

GroundUp Staff

Science

Can sport help reduce city\xe2\x80\x99s violence?

Science: Gang members and competitive sportsmen may share a \xe2\x80\x9cwarrior gene\xe2\x80\x9d, according to Don Pinnock of the Usiko Trust.

Pharie Sefali

Behind the abortion adverts

Science: We see them plastered over walls in town, on stop signs, outside schools and even advertised in local newspapers. But what is the real story behind the 1-hour abortion posters?

Ruth Atkinson

Govt develops new toilet technologies - but how much will they help?

Science: The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has launched an initiative to test new toilet technologies for South Africa\xe2\x80\x99s rural areas.

Paul Kennedy

Sport

Former champion Jaji Sbali puts on the gloves in Philippi

News: Former champion flyweight and junior bantamweight Jaji Sbali from Mdantsane - the home of so many champion boxers - is determined to teach young boxers in Philippi the sport he loves.

Siyabonga Kalipa

Cartoon

Babe\xe2\x80\xa6 I'm just working my way to college

Roberto Millan