Philippi resident Cleopatra Qukula used hand gestures and sounds as she recalled one her “most traumatising” experiences — more than 50 years ago — when she was hospitalised for three months to recover from a dog bite.
Barbara Maregele
News | 4 August 2015
Masixole Feni, GroundUp's photographer, has won the 2015 Ernest Cole award.
Text by GroundUp Staff. Photos by Masixole Feni.
News | 4 August 2015
The Zip Zap Circus School dome in the city centre was packed on Saturday afternoon as the circus put on a show to raise funds for severely disabled six-year-old Jack Bain.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 28 July 2015
Seedtime is an impressive retrospective exhibition of works by South African artist, photographer and former political activist, Omar Badsha, spanning a period of 50 years.
GroundUp Staff
News | 23 July 2015
Skin colour is a thing of the past, says a white man from East London, Gonubie area, who recently entered manhood in the Xhosa tradition.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
News | 16 July 2015
A group of anonymous street artists called Space Invader has claimed responsibility for “reinterpreting” the mural in District Six along De Waal Drive near Cape Town city centre.
Barbara Maregele
News | 15 July 2015
International Chess Master Watu Kobese sits on a luxury couch in the Cape Sun Hotel, where the South African Chess Open is taking place. It is an hour before he competes. He has agreed to meet to discuss his life, South African chess and Masidlale Uthimba (Let us play Chess), the first isiXhosa chess book. It was launched on Tuesday (7 July).
Mariska Morris
News | 10 July 2015
“Alex La Guma has come home.” With those words, a visibly emotional Blanche La Guma last weekend received the first book, “hot off the presses” containing three of her late husband’s best-known novels, all of them banned in the apartheid era. The occasion was the initial launch of Alex La Guma - a colossus revisited at the literary festival in the small Western Cape resort town of Montagu.
Terry Bell
News | 6 July 2015
On 3 July 1985 Johannes “Papi” Spogter, who was only 15, was dragged out of his home in the middle of the night by police. Earlier that day he had taken part in a UDF demonstration against the murder of the Cradock four. Shortly after the demonstration Spogter witnessed the police shoot dead 19-year-old Mzwandile “Zed” Miggels, who organised the march and was a leader in the UDF.
Shadi Garman
News | 6 July 2015
As part of the City of Cape Town's plans to rationalise municipal facilities, the South African National Circus School (SAN Circus) will have to vacate their premises in Observatory, after their lease was terminated before it was set to expire.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Feature | 3 July 2015
Spinning tops have been around for years and this is one of the toys that has been keeping township kids busy for decades, especially during school holidays.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Brief | 1 July 2015
Not even initiation school could separate two teens from Hudson Park High School in East London. Estiaan Swanepoel, who is Afrikaans, and his friend Ndibulele Soboyisi, who is Xhosa, are both 18 years old and have known each other for the past eight years.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and Masixole Feni
News | 24 June 2015
Saturday will see the park in Salt River buzzing with excitement when stall owners reopen for business, after the Yew Street Market was re-issued with its permit by the City of Cape Town.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 23 June 2015
Since the age of 16, Peter Webb from Mfuleni has had an obsession with tattoos after seeing many movie stars with bodies splashed with ink designs. Finally with his first salary, he managed to buy a tattoo machine and started his own business in the township.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 18 June 2015
After struggling for 14 years to get a recording deal, three blind performers from Cape Town will finally launch their CD next month.The three call themselves Treasured Voices. They sing gospel jazz. They say when they sing, people forget that they are blind.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
News | 8 June 2015
Ndileka Biyo, owner of Rockasa Design in Masiphumelele, has set her sights on a place in the affluent Waterfront.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 25 May 2015