Cape Town

Informal settlement residents turn to pay TV

26th July 2016 Mandla Mnyakama 0

Several DSTV dishes appear dotted on shack rooftops as you drive past the area from the N2 Highway near Borcherds Quarry in Cape Town.
Kanana Informal Settlement adjacent to Barcelona in Gugulethu was established in 1992 and consists of about 4,000 residents.
The area is hit hard by floods every winter as well as shack fires that sometimes result in deaths.
This densely populated shack settlement has been electrified and has got 1,214 bucket system toilets with some residents sharing them while others got toilets installed in their homes.
There are also more than 40 communal water taps.
Local residents say they enjoy pay TV because it not only helps to update them on international entertainment but also prevents their children from loitering after school, especially during the winter school holidays, keeping them indoors.

Foreign shop owners still struggling

21st June 2016 Bernard Chiguvare 0

Most foreign national shop owners in Dunoon are struggling to re-establish their businesses a month after the shops were looted by the residents following housing protests.
Some have completely closed down and moved to other places while others have gone back to their respective countries. Elitsha tried to call some shop owners whose shops were closed but they never answered the calls.

40 years on – still no quality public education!

21st June 2016 Mzi Velapi 0

1976 marks the year when students in Soweto and throughout the country stood up against the apartheid regime and fought for quality education.
2016: fast-forward 40 years, the dream of public quality education has not been realized after 22 years of democracy. Elitsha has been consistently covering stories about the lack of quality public education. From Ikhwezi Lesizwe Primary school in Khayelitsha to Gordon Primary school in Alexandra township in Johannesburg to Chubekile Senior Secondary School in Kwa-Zakhele in Port Elizabeth.

UCT Shackville protesters effectively expelled

25th May 2016 GroundUp 0

An interdict against a number of University of Cape Town (UCT) students was made an order of court. As a result, five students find themselves effectively expelled.
The five (of the original 16 named respondents) are not allowed on campus for an indefinite period of time except with express written consent of the vice-chancellor. They are: Alex Hotz, Masixole Mlandu, Chumani Maxwele, Slovo Magida and Zola Shokane. They will also have to pay UCT’s costs including the costs of two counsel.

No going back

25th May 2016 Bernard Chiguvare GroundUp 0

A group of almost 100 pensioners from the Eastern Cape picketed parliament. On the first two nights, they slept in front of the Parliament building
A group of pensioners from the Eastern Cape who have been picketing at Parliament in Cape Town have vowed to remain at the Parliament precinct until they get their moneys.

Public transport users feel the pain

8th December 2015 Siphiwo Nkonki 0

Despite the South African government declaring the month of October as transport month, public transport in South Africa is still a big problem. October has come and gone but commuters in Khayelitsha township in Cape Town are frustrated with public transport.
For many people who rely on trains, buses or minibus taxis to go to and from work, public transport is dysfunctional.

#FeesMustFall feature

8th December 2015 Mzi Velapi 0

In October 2015, we saw one of the biggest student protests in post apartheid Africa. Students from tertiary institutions protesting against fee increments and called for “free quality Afrocentric socialist education.” Outsourced workers at the instutions joined the protest action calling for insourcing. So much has been written on the campaign and what lessons that can be learnt from it.
The protest was a response to proposed fee hikes by the institutions.

Student-worker alliance forces universities to insource

8th December 2015 Mzi Velapi 0

Service workers at South Africa’s universities were outsourced since the late 1990’s after the ANC government adopted its GEAR economic policy. This meant that cleaners, security, transport and catering workers were no longer directly employed by univerities. They were now employed by outsourced companies, losing most of their benefits and earning less than half their wages.