All people are affected by the law but few understand it. Lawyers and judges speak and write using complicated language. Nearly any non-lawyer who picks up a law journal would find it dry and unintelligible. Enter the People's Law Journal, a publication that aims to change this.
GroundUp Staff
News | 19 November 2013
Cassiem Mohammed is a 70-year-old retired boiler cleaner from the now-closed Athlone Power Station (APS). He was diagnosed with asbestosis (fibrosis of the lung) in the mid-1990s from exposure to asbestos while he was working at the APS.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 13 November 2013
This week we have reports from Corruption Watch, the Social Justice Coalition, the International Organisation for Migration and the Aids Rights Alliance for Southern Africa.
Delphine Pedeboy
News | 6 November 2013
The Presidentâs Fund was established in 2003 under President Thabo Mbeki to compensate apartheid victims. It has accumulated over a billion rands. Nevertheless, many apartheid victims who were identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to receive compensation from this fund, have still received nothing. Some have died waiting.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 5 November 2013
Instead of fulfilling its vision to âenhance the quality of healthâ, the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) tried to stop details of the health crisis in the Eastern Cape being made public.
GroundUp Staff
News | 4 November 2013
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is a statutory body that regulates health workers. It registers doctors and disciplines them if they do something wrong. If it had to perform its tasks properly, patients would benefit. Instead, according to several organisations and doctors, the HPCSAâs inefficiency hurts patients.
Delphine Pedeboy and GroundUp Staff
News | 30 October 2013
It is in the interests of large multinational companies to secure as many patents as possible. The Treatment Action Campaign, in line with the Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (IP), argues that patents should only be granted for medicines that are truly new and innovative, for example a brand new cancer cure.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 24 October 2013
The long-awaited criminal case against Paul Kasonkomona began on 16 and 17 October in the Lusaka Magistrates Court. Witnesses for the prosecution testified during the hearing. According to Anneke Meerkotter of the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), the âevidence led by the State during Kasonkomonaâs trial confirms suspicions that the arrest and prosecution of Kasonkomona was politically motivatedâ.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 24 October 2013
A decision taken in 2012 by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to stop processing new applicants at the Cape Town refugee reception office has resulted in asylum seekers having to travel long distances at great cost to be documented and renew their permits.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 23 October 2013
Thousands of people in South Africa have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Many of them will die. Death from TB can be slow and horrible. Many of those who do survive will struggle with severe side effects and may need daily pills and injections. Some, like 23-year old Phumeza who described her experience of TB treatment at a Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) press conference last week, will live, but lose their hearing.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 23 October 2013
A Twitter storm erupted on 18 October after South African artist Euodia Roets published a blog post titled âHow Woolworths Really Operates!â. Roets believes her design of a hummingbird on a cushion was used by Woolworths without the company acknowledging it as her work.
Delphine Pedeboy and GroundUp Editor
News | 21 October 2013
G4S is the worldâs largest international security firm. It has a big presence in South Africa. Employee relations are strained at the University of Cape Town following the transfer of three G4S security guards to other G4S sites in Cape Town in September.
GroundUp Staff
News | 16 October 2013
On 15 August 2013 the Zambian High Court refused to hear a constitutional application by Paul Kasonkomona regarding his right to freedom of expression being violated by police charges against him.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 9 October 2013
The O'Regan/Pikoli Commision of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha is to go ahead after a Constitutional Court ruling last week. GroundUp went to the streets of Khayelitsha to gauge peopleâs reaction to the ruling.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
Opinion | 9 October 2013
South Africaâs draft intellectual property policy fails to make any mention of the most progressive copyright treaty in years. Blind and visually impaired people will pay the price if this is not rectified in the final policy.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 2 October 2013
It's now nearly 50 days since Toronto filmmaker John Greyson and London, Ontario Doctor Tarek Loubani were arrested by Egyptian police while on their way to Gaza. They are on the 16th day of a hunger strike against their treatment and detention without charge.
Jack Lewis
Opinion | 2 October 2013