I think a lot of us were reeling yesterday from the President’s speech on Sunday night, writes Sam Cohen. Let’s remember today to be kind. If you have a friend who is a drinker, please be kind, they are angry and hurt. If you haven’t seen your family in months, please be kind to people […]

Two men arrested for collecting and recycling waste during lockdown in Tshwane were released from Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre at about 5pm on Tuesday after spending three months in prison. Justice Shabangu and George Mphotshe, were arrested on 7 April for continuing to work under lockdown level five restrictions which stated that everyone should stay […]

As the first of two storms made landfall in Cape Town late on Friday, dozens of informal settlement residents were left with waterlogged homes, causing damage to furniture items and other belongings. In Khunqu informal settlements in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, resident Ntomboxolo Mpolweni said they reported the flooding to their PR councillor to no avail. […]

Glenn Sandler, 36, worked as a business intelligence analyst for Capitec. He lived with his fiancée, was able to work remotely, and, as the son of a doctor and a pharmacist, was careful to take precautions against catching Covid-19. He had no chronic conditions known to make Covid-19 cases worse. But when he caught the […]

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus, SA Rugby’s director of rugby, on Tuesday thanked South Africans for answering the Springboks’ call to help raise funds to help with hunger alleviation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Springboks’ #StrongerTogether for R32-12 fundraising campaign finished on a high note with over a R1 million raised when the […]

Zackie Achmat, activist and co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), stressed the need for more openness and activism during the Covid-19 crisis in South Africa. He was speaking during a webinar on Thursday in which he received the 2018 International AIDS Society (IAS) President’s Award. The award was handed to him, virtually, by outgoing […]

“I was in my room washing. I asked them for one minute. Then they threw me outside.” Bulelani Qolani described how on Wednesday he was dragged naked from his home by City of Cape Town law enforcement officers sent to demolish shacks at a site called eThembeni, near Empolweni, in Khayelitsha. The video of Qolani […]

Described by friends, colleagues and family as a soft soul who got along with everybody, HIV/AIDS activist Nomandla Yako died on Sunday night in Groote Schuur hospital of renal failure as a result of being ill with Covid-19. She was 41. Nomandla Yako and her son were featured on Siyayinqoba in the mid-2000s. Yako lived […]

South Africa’s captive-bred lion industry will go down in history as one of the most shameful wildlife disasters ever created by humans on earth. While it continues to spiral into an increasingly corrupt trade, it drags down with it our country’s credibility as a reputable wildlife tourism destination… writes Environmental Writer Louzel Lombard Steyn. A […]

Supported by wealthy and powerful organisations like Safari Club International, the Dallas Safari Club and the National Rifle Association, and egged on by countless awards and record book listings, trophy hunters have gunned down 1.7 million wild animals in the past decade. Around 250,000 were endangered species. This is detailed in an alarming book, “Trophy […]

On Tuesday morning 16 June 2020, the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, News24 published an article chronicling a timeline of the events that proved to be a turning-point in South Africa in the fight against apartheid. For one person in Groot Marico who read that article – community worker Santa van Bart – it […]

Chad le Clos is recovering well from two necessary surgeries, which came in a window of opportunity due to the Covid-19 lockdown and postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. The 28-year-old swimming superstar is still expected to be out of action for between three and five more weeks. ‘I’ve been having abdominal pain for as long […]

Dune Coetzee, one of the rising stars of South African swimming, has decided to continue her career in the United States after next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The 18-year-old has not lost a butterfly race in South Africa for three years but she knows she needs to get even faster if she is to reach her […]

South African legal history will be made in the Cape High Court on Tuesday where the first part of novel litigation involving a R14.25m defamation suit by mining interests against activists has been set down for hearing. The defendants argue that it is a ‘SLAPP’ suit. SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Litigation Against Public […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) reiterates its call for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and other government regulatory authorities to facilitate flights in and out of the country… writes Ghaleb Cachalia – DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises. South Africans grappling with the challenges of repatriation back home from abroad and the need […]

Government’s lack of transparency means analysts cannot evaluate whether a strategy is working… writes Alex van den Heever on GroundUp. The response required to address the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa could reasonably be argued to necessitate the extraordinary step to invoke the Disaster Management Act. After all, in times of crisis, even the old Roman […]

Crises bring out the the best and worst of politicians and populations. Folly, fear and fortitude are on display everywhere. In the main, democracies have fared better than non-democracies in handling the coronavirus pandemic… writes Lawrence Hamilton from the  University of the Witwatersrand. But the record is very varied indeed. What explains this? What can […]

Diligent detective work by the Protected Resources Division (PRD) of the Namibian Police, has led to more poaching charges being registered against well known Prophet Jackson Babi… writes Niël Terblanché from Informante. Prophet Babi, the founder of the House of Joy Ministries, is currently in police custody in Namibia, on poaching charges that stem from […]

To take the shortest route to the shops and to school, shack dwellers of Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement in Soweto had to cross a deep gully with a polluted stream. Although only a few metres wide it could be treacherous. In the summer rains, it was prone to flooding. People fell and had to have […]

Everyday Lauren* breaks her isolation to visit the clinic where she undergoes radiotherapy. Cancer patients appear to have a higher risk of dying of Covid-19 if they become infected with the new coronavirus. Lauren has cancer and needs to attend a clinic for radiotherapy. She describes the measures the clinic has taken because of the […]

With lockdown leaving many families in South Africa destitute without the means to earn an income and provide for their families, South Africans all over the land have stepped up to find a way to create vegetable gardens, soup kitchens and other ways to help feed those who may otherwise starve. And for those who […]

The South African History Archive Trust has won an important victory for the constitutional right of access to information in the Supreme Court of Appeal. In a unanimous judgment, the court found that the Reserve Bank had unlawfully refused to provide SAHA with records in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). […]

20 organisations ask state capture commission to issue interim report… Dear Judge Zondo, We write to you as concerned members of the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture, which comprises more than 20 civil society organisations. In February 2020, we presented an Agenda for Action to the Commission, which is based on detailed submissions […]

Six people have died and four more are in a critical condition at False Bay Hospital, Fish Hoek, in South Africa after being admitted for methanol poisoning on Monday evening, 1 June. Natalie Watlington, Western Cape Department of Health Principal Communications Officer for Southern Western Sub-structures, confirmed the cases with GroundUp. Watlington said, “Western Cape […]

Conservation groups from South Africa and around the globe have called on the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and their Global Tourism Crisis Committee to phase out close-contact wildlife encounters and entertainment practices in tourism to help build a more resilient and sustainable industry going forward…. writes environmental writer Louzel Lombard Steyn.  This as […]