Last week, GroundUp witnessed law enforcement officers confiscating the fruit of two street vendors on the corners of Belmont and Main Road, Rondebosch. They are among thousands of informal vendors breaking city bylaws to sell their goods at traffic lights and intersections across the City in order to make their daily living.
Barbara Maregele and Adam Armstrong
News | 26 June 2014
Over 50 protesters huddled behind barricades outside parliament on 17 June before President Jacob Zuma arrived to deliver the State of the Nation address that opened South Africa’s fifth parliament.
Lara Sokoloff
News | 18 June 2014
More than 8.5 million people are receiving payments from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. If a bill before parliament’s labour committee is passed, benefits could be extended to a year.
GroundUp Staff
News | 17 June 2014
In the mining villages of Ga-Pila where Anglo Platinum continues to profit from land grabbed from the traditional communities just west of Mokopane, the appointment of the new Minister of Mineral Resources, Advocate Ngoako Ramathlodi, has been met with a sense of betrayal.
Christopher Rutledge
Opinion | 16 June 2014
Like any good question, the answer to whether the platinum producers can afford the demands made by striking workers is: “it depends”.
Gilad Isaacs
Opinion | 9 June 2014
Lufefe Nomjana used to bake 25 loaves of spinach bread a day and walk up to 25 kilometres to distribute them. Now he has launched the first green bakery in Khayelitsha, Espinaca Innovations.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 3 June 2014
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
Opinion | 20 May 2014
Hundreds of Sassa beneficiaries who have become victims of unlawful debt deductions from their grants are struggling to make ends meet.
Barbara Maregele
News | 19 May 2014
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
News | 19 May 2014
The Five Plus Project was launched on 17 March this year. Its goal is to get as many well-off South Africans as possible to give at least 5% of their income to organisations and initiatives helping to reduce poverty in South Africa or alleviate its effects.
Hugh Corder and Anton Fagan
Opinion | 3 April 2014
Many South Africans from all walks of life and across the political spectrum are calling for the resignation and impeachment of President Jacob Zuma. In the light of a thoroughly researched and meticulously presented report by the Public Protector into the Nkandla matter, these calls seem more than justified.
GroundUp Staff
News | 20 March 2014
This week we cover the NUMSA Day of Action for Youth Jobs and the TAC’s People’s Health Manifesto campaign.
Brent Meersman
News | 19 March 2014
Equal Education and Ndifuna Ukwazi hosted a seminar at Lookout Hill, Khayelitsha, on 13 March titled ‘What Next: Opportunities for post school youth’. Part information, part inspiration, conversations were frank and informative.
Adam Armstrong
Opinion | 18 March 2014
Unless bridges are built between competing sides, legacies of bitterness, hatred and fear, often distorted by prejudice and myth, can persist for decades, even generations. And when there are are fairly recent incidents, especially those involving bloodshed and human loss, feelings, particularly among those who identify as victims, are all the more acute.
Terry Bell
News | 17 March 2014
Four days after the bloodletting that has become known as the Marikana massacre, my Inside Labour column supported the call for a comprehensive and independent inquiry. And it noted, reflecting a widespread view within the labour movement: “The Lonmin tragedy is a wake-up call that South Africa will ignore at its peril.” Now, 19 months later and with the strike on the platinum belt having gone on for nearly two months, that warning seems even more appropriate. Below is an updated commentary that first appeared on the first anniversary of Marikana.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 10 March 2014
The ANC is increasingly accused of breaking the promises it has made to the South African public. What is less widely discussed is how their promises contradict one another.
Gilad Isaacs
Opinion | 4 March 2014