Hair stylist Onele Cembi could be the first South African to write a Covid-19 message in his hair! The stylist from KwaNobhuhle, Uitenhage, says he wants to pass on the message about the virus to children and teach them how to spell by “writing” the words in his dreadlocks. “Children seem to be ignorant about […]

South Africa has committed an amount of US $1.3 million in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the pledge during a World Health Organisation (WHO) Coronavirus Global Response pledging conference, which was convened by the European Union (EU) on Monday. The conference mobilised resources for the WHO’s recently launched global collaboration to […]

Scores of social grant beneficiaries in Pietermaritzburg returned home on Monday without receiving their old age pension grant at the post office and from bank ATMs. Beneficiaries who collect their pension from the Pietermaritzburg Post Office in Langalibalele Street went home empty handed after spending most of the morning and afternoon in snaking queues outside […]

Tobacco companies want access to minutes of behind-closed-door meetings where ministers voted on Covid-19-busting regulations. In its urgent application lodged in the Pretoria High Court on Monday, Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association, which represents eight tobacco manufacturers, are challenging the further ban on the sale of cigarettes in the second phase of the lockdown which began […]

Police were accused of killing five people during the enforcement of the first three weeks of Covid-19 lockdown… writes Daneel Knoetze for Viewfinder. Police were accused of killing five people during the enforcement of the first three weeks of Covid-19 lockdown, recently published statistics have confirmed. The details of two of those alleged killings have not […]

Denis Theodore Goldberg, one of the stalwarts in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, has passed on at the age of 87. He was one of the two last remaining activists who were tried for sabotage in 1963-1964 along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada. Goldberg was born into a family of […]

A conservation biologist from South Africa has won a prestigious Whitley Award worth £40,000 to support her quest to save threatened amphibians… in a “giant leap for amphibian conservation”. Jeanne Tarrant, known locally as the “Frog Lady”, works for the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), where she manages the Threatened Amphibian Programme. EWT is the only […]

No one knows what is going on. So many versions of Level Four have circulated that we all have whiplash, and if you didn’t have an anxiety disorder before, you sure as shit have it now… writes Kim Nicola Stephens. Runners got their shoes all ready and prepped and then someone said NO JOGGING and […]

2020 was going to be a great year for everyone… writes Ari Seirlis, an advisor to the President on disability matters and strategy. I remember reading many friends’ Facebook comments about how this new decade was going to be groundbreaking – vast opportunities, wealth, health and relationships were all going to flourish. A Black Swan […]

As schools enter a second month of lockdown in South Africa, parents and teachers are stretched to the limit to keep up with schooling at home. But while some learners can continue online, many have to cope with the challenge of sporadic communication with their teachers and a lack of connectivity and resources. Can learners […]

There have been 403 incidents of vandalism, burglary and destruction of schools across several South African provinces since the start of the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, according to the Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, who has condemned the criminal activity. The damage of school property includes torching of schools, the theft of learning as well as […]

A domestic worker in Johannesburg has donated R3,000 of her R7,500-a-month salary to families in distress because of the Covid-19 lockdown. Zimbabwean national Judy Murambinda used the money to assist other Zimbabweans in trouble. She said immigrants should help each other when living away from home. Murambinda, who came to South Africa in 2009, was […]

Hundreds of residents from Govan Mbeki and Nkandla townships in Port Elizabeth took a stand against criminals to protect some immigrant-owned spaza shops from looters on Tuesday morning… writes Mkhuseli Sizani. In Govan Mbeki GroundUp spoke to Mule Wanaro, the owner of Mubarak Spaza shop in Area 20, who recounted a narrow escape from armed […]

We are a group of concerned citizens and educational activists and South African leaders, with the support of the National Association for Social Change Entities (NASCEE). We have heard Minister Motshekga’s interview on e.TV on 10 April, and understand that a Recovery Plan will be tabled to the Cabinet in the course of the week. […]

As the world staggers under the catastrophic impact of eating a wild animal, probably a pangolin, the South African government has reclassified 130 wild animals as meat. The next pandemic could be round the corner with its epicentre at the southern tip of Africa. South Africa has embarked on a mission to commercialise and commoditise […]

Residents of Tafelsig in Cape Town burnt tyres and blocked streets on Tuesday, demanding food parcels. When GroundUp arrived in the afternoon, a large contingent of police and the SANDF were on the scene. Traffic officers blocked sections of AZ Berman and Spine Road. Rocks and coils from burnt out mattresses littered the streets. Each […]

Professor Tim Noakes gave an interview to CCFM that has been widely circulated on social media. In it Noakes makes false and misleading statements… writes GroundUp editor Nathan Geffen. The interview starts off with Noakes admitting he is not a virus expert. If the interview had ended at this point it would have been accurate. […]

In the second week of March the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. By mid-March the disease had spread rapidly in many countries around the world. Governments are taking drastic steps, including the complete lockdown of cities, as well as extensive health interventions to try and stem the disease which is caused by […]

Covid-19 is a fast-moving epidemic with new knowledge emerging daily. President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister Zweli Mkhize and others have shown outstanding leadership in rapidly implementing public health measures to address it. But there’s one important step they still need to add, which we hope will be supported across the country: encourage the wearing of home-made […]

The public debate on strategies to tackle COVID-19 often unhelpfully positions health and economic considerations in a diametric fashion – as trade-offs. In fact, economic policy has health consequences. And health policy has economic consequences. The two need to be seen as parts of a coherent whole. In the case of South Africa, the country […]

IPID is also investigating 13 complaints related to shootings and 14 assault cases… writes Daneel Knoetze. Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has registered six cases of “death as a result of police action” during the first week of the national Covid-19 lockdown, between midnight on 26 March and 2 April. Added to the tally of […]

Children earn money directing cars around potholes hidden by a flooded road in Bethelsdorp… writes Mkhuseli Sizani. A flooded street where motorists cannot see hidden potholes has become a source of income for some enterprising children in Bethelsdorp, Port Elizabeth. Their parents aren’t too pleased. The group of children, aged between five and 18, some […]

The Summer Olympics that had been scheduled to begin in Tokyo this July will instead take place almost exactly one year later, the International Olympic Committee said. The Olympic Games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be celebrated from 23 July to 8 August 2021,’ the IOC said. […]

Suppose you had the choice between two health policies, A and B. Policy A would result in the death of a lot of elderly people. Policy B would result in the death of a lot of children, especially infants. Which would you choose? Right now we are facing a choice between more or less drastic […]

Dear Fellow South African, The world is in the throes of a public health emergency on a scale not witnessed in over a century… writes President Cyril Ramaphosa in his latest letter to SA citizens. The spread of the coronavirus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, has been alarmingly swift and widescale, and is […]