In King Leopold’s Ghost, the historian Adam Hochschild uncovers the horrors committed in the Belgian Congo in the years before and after 1900. It is a history of slavery, murder and mutilation – anyone who’s seen the pictures of piles of cut-off hands cannot but be horrified by it.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 9 October 2015
A group of nine miners and Vredendal community members who were charged with public violence after participating in a demonstration outside the Australian-owned Tormin mine on the west coast, made a brief appearance in court on Thursday. Meanwhile, on Friday a group of about 60 mine-workers and members of the west coast community where the Tormin Mineral Sand mine operates came to Cape Town to picket outside the High Court.
Barbara Maregele and Bernard Chiguvare
News | 9 October 2015
At least two thousand workers from all sectors of the economy in the Western Cape marched to parliament today to hand over a memorandum of demands.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 7 October 2015
This year’s Annual National Assessments (ANA), which are administered in literacy and numeracy to all learners in grades 1-6 and 9, have been postponed till December following opposition to their administration from teacher unions. How should we understand the value of these assessments, the reasons for the opposition from unions and how the assessments can be improved for the future?
Stephen Taylor
Opinion | 30 September 2015
To test or not to test? That is not the question although it is the way the current row about basic education has largely been presented.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 29 September 2015
Minister of Education, Angie Motshegka, will meet on Friday with stakeholder groups in a bid to resolve the deadlock over the annual national assessment tests (ANAs), scheduled for December.
Sibusiso Tshabalala
News | 29 September 2015
The Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers union (Csaawu) announced today that it will not be forced to close down.
Barbara Maregele
Brief | 23 September 2015
Workers at Australian-owned Tormin mine on the west coast are still on strike after a protest two weeks ago in which a police officer and a worker were injured, and 27 people were arrested.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 23 September 2015
Construction workers in Walter Sisulu in Mdantsane are refusing to work on the RDP houses being built by the municipality, claiming they are being underpaid.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
Brief | 17 September 2015
A group of young men from Ndevana location near King William’s Town have found a way to put food on their families’ tables: making bricks.
Siphesihle Matyila
News | 17 September 2015
Simphiwe Mabuwa (45) goes beyond the call of duty as a Big Issue and Funny Money salesman at the intersection between Newlands Avenue and Dean Street in Newlands. Over the five years he has worked in the area, he has also taken on the role of community watchman and good friend to many passers-by.
Pasqua Heard
Feature | 16 September 2015
About 100 people marched through the streets of Cape Town on Friday against the possible closure of Oceana's Hout Bay Fishmeal Factory.
Barbara Maregele
News | 11 September 2015
Fanuel (not his real name) teaches at a high school in Gaetsewe District in Northern Cape Province. He says he was last paid in June 2015 because his Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP) renewal application to the Department of Home Affairs is still pending. He appears to be one of dozens of foreign nationals in a similar position.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 11 September 2015
Parental leave has been a trending topic this year, both globally and in South Africa. Corporations, especially global tech companies, have been making headlines as they announce expanded maternity and paternity leave: From Virgin Management’s announcement that parents can now receive up to a year of paid shared parental leave, to Netflix announcing a year of paid maternity and paternity leave.
Czerina Patel
Analysis | 11 September 2015
Robert Thompson has been collecting material for recycling in Cape Town since 1999. On an average day he makes R100, selling the cardboard and paper he collects to Harrington Buy Back Centre (HBBC) in the city centre.
Bernard Chiguvare
News | 7 September 2015
What is work? This question came very much to the fore over the past week after Amnesty International, called for “sex work” to be decriminalised. The international human rights organisation made the call after a two-year investigation into the “sex industry”. It came shortly after two local gender equality and human rights groups also called for law change.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 7 September 2015