Johannesburg

River Park residents frustrated at long delay to complete the building of flats

26th July 2017 Ramatamo Sehoai 0

An unfinished block of flats in River Park near Alexandra township north of Johannesburg has infuriated the local residents who scramble for every piece of land for human settlement. They recently invaded the flats that were built in 2009 but left incomplete. Now wanting to make their occupation permanent, they want to know who owns the flats and why they have been left in that condition.

Housing Protest Movement Spreads – Building a United Front Campaign

30th May 2017 Shaheen Khan 0

The service delivery protest movement of largely African working class people since 1994 and more particularly since the early 2000s, represents a low-key civil war which has largely been ignored by the mainstream media. However the spread of the protest movement to the predominantly ‘coloured’ working class areas in Gauteng like Eldorado Park, Ennerdale and Newclare has received widespread media coverage because these areas have been politically silent for the past twenty three years and now suddenly exploded in violent protest.

Domestic workers’ union says the proposed minimum wage is too little

19th December 2016 Ramatamo wa Matamong 0

Whilst delivering his speech on the proposed minimum wage of R3,500 a month, Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa said that the national minimum wage was aimed at reducing income poverty and inequality. The  advisory panel which was looking into the the issue proposed that wages in the domestic work sector should be set at 75% of the proposed national minimum wage. In a report released in June by The National Minimum Wage Research Initiative of the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand, 90% of domestic workers earn less than R3,120 a month.

Gauteng floods leave the poor in misery

28th November 2016 Ramatamo wa Matamong 0

It will take a long time for the poor to recover from storms that have wrecked homes, especially those in informal settlements like Stjwetla situated on the edge of the Juskei river in Alexandra.
A week of floods as a result of torrential rain in some parts of Gauteng has left many people devastated. Cars and houses were damaged. Above all, eight people lost their lives. While others are saying this is an act of God, others are blaming poor storm water drainage as the cause of the damage. Affected regions were Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

Forced to sign with Smart Purse

14th November 2016 Ramatamo wa Matamong 0

An outsourced company has been failing careworkers in Gauteng.
After protesting for three months against their employment being outsourced by the Gauteng Department of Health, community health care workers including those in Alexandra said they have given up the fight.
They eventually decided to sign up with the outsourced company, Smart Purse, because they were locked out and not allowed to work.