The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has found that the City of Cape Town's roll out of chemical toilets unfairly discriminates against “black African” people, and violates the rights to basic sanitation and dignity of informal settlement residents.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 16 July 2014
“Our school has four pit-toilets, two for the boys and two for the girls”, Yonela Jumba says. “These toilets are also used by the teachers.”
Koketso Moeti
News | 16 July 2014
Desmond Tutu's support for assisted dying made headlines across the world this week, and brought the debate into the mainstream in South Africa.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 15 July 2014
This week we report arrests at a health demonstration in the Free State, the African Union’s recent move to immunise leaders from war crime prosecution, and an upcoming school infrastructure reform conference.
Michelle Korte
News | 10 July 2014
Counsellor Ernest Sonnenberg has written an open letter to Phumeza Mlungwana, General Secretary of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC). This follows the report published by GroundUp on the SJC's toilet mapping initiative.
Ernest Sonnenberg
Opinion | 10 July 2014
A Delft South community health worker (CHW) had no choice, but to take two weeks unpaid leave after sustaining a serious back injury while bathing a patient earlier this year.
Barbara Maregele
News | 9 July 2014
Community health workers (CHWs) are an essential link between communities and the often confusing health-care system. There are about 70,000 of them countrywide. They do a myriad tasks: visiting and assisting frail people at their homes, educating people about HIV and TB, and much more. But their conditions of employment are beset with problems.
Barbara Maregele
News | 9 July 2014
Two organisations have teamed up to map public flush toilet locations in Khayelitsha. They will launch an interactive website and phone-based reporting system to improve efficiency in toilet maintenance.
Michelle Korte
News | 8 July 2014
This week we cover the availability of generic drug-resistant tuberculosis medication in Khayelitsha, a worldwide anti-corruption campaign taken up by Corruption Watch, a parents’ camp hosted by Equal Education, and an upcoming school infrastructure reform conference.
Michelle Korte
News | 3 July 2014
Such was the demand for a newly-introduced female contraceptive implant that stocks ran dry in the Ilembe district a week before the month's end in April. After stalling for three weeks, the programme restarted when stocks were replenished in the second week of May.
Ruth Atkinson
News | 3 July 2014
Breathing air that does not damage health is one of the most important constitutional rights. But some municipalities on the polluted Mpumalanga Highveld are battling to enforce the Air Quality Act, writes Robyn Hugo.
Robyn Hugo
Opinion | 1 July 2014
HIV-positive Zuziwe* from Nyanga is worried about how she is going to survive this winter because she says she doesn’t have enough food or blankets for her children.
Pharie Sefali
News | 1 July 2014
During apartheid, a nuclear weapons programme at Pelindaba used workers from nearby settlements. Decades have gone by and millions of rands have been spent on investigations, yet questions remain and hundreds of workers who claim to have become ill after exposure to hazardous material are still fighting for compensation.
Mandy de Waal and Jon Pienaar
Feature | 27 June 2014
Every day at 4pm the small community of Pullenshope in Hendrina is shaken by a loud explosion, earth-shaking tremors and clouds of dust. Situated less than a kilometre from the Eskom-owned Hendrina Power Station, residents say respiratory illnesses are on the rise.
Barbara Maregele
News | 23 June 2014
Polluted water, shattered windows and cracked walls were among the concerns voiced by Middelburg residents during a workshop hosted by the Centre for Environmental Rights on 18 June.
Barbara Maregele
News | 19 June 2014
The pungent smell of burning coal as one flies over mining plants and power stations in close proximity to each other on the Mpumalanga Highveld area is testimony to the dangerous effects these industries have had on the people who live in nearby communities.
Barbara Maregele
News | 18 June 2014