Opinion

Democracy the winner: a response to Rhoda Kadalie

Never one to disguise her spleen Rhoda Kadalie takes issue with what she alleges is “my temerity to lead the electorate astray”. What Kadalie is taking issue with, but conceals, is I am no lone voice but in partnership with numerous others, of note, in a campaign which calls on all registered voters not to abstain but use their vote on 7 May.

Ronnie Kasrils

Opinion | 1 May 2014

Celebrate Freedom Day? No thanks, I’d rather drink

While celebrations took place all over the country this week, some young people in Cape Town’s townships chose to spend Freedom Day another way.

Pharie Sefali

Opinion | 30 April 2014

“˜Nothing About Us, Without Us!’ - keeping the Constitution alive

The stories told by the mothers of three children with disabilities at a series of workshops at the Consitutional Court underline the contrast between constitutional rights and the grim reality.

Muhammad Zakaria Suleman and Tim Fish Hodgson

Opinion | 29 April 2014

Deploying the army to the Cape Flats won’t work

The call to deploy the army was heard in response to recent gang violence in Manenberg. But that’s not the solution, argues Adam Armstrong.

Adam Armstrong

Opinion | 29 April 2014

Labour’s blind loyalty a democratic failure

The ongoing and increasingly bitter row within Cosatu boils down, basically, to a constitutional clash.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 29 April 2014

Khayelitsha cops: “We are the whipping boys”

While the Marikana hearings drift through the doldrums in Rustenberg, at Khayelitsha’s Lookout Hill another commission into police failings is cautiously gathering momentum. The O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry is a timely and consolatory reminder of the judicial efficiency South Africa is capable of.

Richard Conyngham

Opinion | 22 April 2014

COSATU schisms make for a rocky road

We are in the midst of all the usual fanfare, the pledges, promises, rows and contradictions that accompany any run-up to a major election. But the scheduled national poll on 7 May seems to be beset by more bickering, bitterness and fragmentation than normal — and this is a clear portent for the future.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 22 April 2014

What’s that you say … human-whats?

Nearly two decades into our democracy, for most people living in South Africa our Constitution might as well be written in Latin, because it is more than likely that they have never read it.

Tim Fish Hodgson and Tawana Nharingo

Opinion | 17 April 2014

Where to for Cape Town Pride?

At a meeting on 12 April convened by Ikasi Pride, members of a divided gay and lesbian community discussed the future of gay pride in the city, its steady depoliticisation, its lack of community outreach and its image problem.

Brent Meersman

Opinion | 15 April 2014

A year of compulsory community service for new teachers?

On April Fool’s day, GroundUp published a story which claimed that government had made it compulsory for teacher graduates to provide their services in non-model C government schools for one year.

Joshua Maserow

Opinion | 15 April 2014

Still seeking fairness on the farms

Farm employer organisation AgriSA last week met with trade union representatives in an effort to strike a deal to allow unionisation on farms — and especially in the winelands of the Western Cape. “Most farmers still will not allow union representatives onto their properties,” says Federation of Unions (Fedusa) general secretary Dennis George.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 14 April 2014

Kramer has it wrong says City

Paul Boughey, chief of staff to the executive mayor of Cape Town, takes issue with Dustin Kramer's article on GroundUp.

Paul Boughey

Opinion | 9 April 2014

Mobile phone rates and putting people before profits

You’ve probably heard the news that MTN and Vodacom have gone to court to stop new regulations. The court ruled that the regulations should go head. What does this mean for the people’s right to communicate?

John Haffner

Opinion | 8 April 2014

Strike focus must be on jobs, not wages

A crunch point has this week been reached in the platinum sector. Stockpiles are all but exhausted and striking miners are starving. In normal circumstances this would be the time when compromise is reached, a matter of who blinks first.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 8 April 2014

Where do political parties stand on health issues?

The People’s Health Manifesto is an initiative of the Treatment Action Campaign. With elections upon us, the TAC wanted to know what political parties proposed to do for healthcare. They put 11 questions to them. This is what they discovered.

Brent Meersman

Opinion | 7 April 2014

EFF is not a left alternative

This was written in September 2011 when Julius Malema was still riding high in the ANCYL. However, the arguments made are, I think vindicated by the subsequent emergence of the EFF. Anyone who thinks the EFF represents a Left alternative is badly — and dangerously — mistaken. I put it out again now because it appears that there are still some otherwise sensible comrades who are considering a vote for the EFF. WASP, for all its faults, is at least a Left bet.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 7 April 2014