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.
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.
The Rugby World Cup has come and gone and the Boks team is still a topical issue. With only 8 black players in the team that competed in the world cup, transformation of rugby remains necessary.
In order to deal with the challenge of poor rugby development in Khayelitsha, Connect Community Development established a rugby academy to nurture the skills of young rugby players and afford them an opportunity to play rugby.
After weeks of protests and putting pressure on university management, students from poor families and workers at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University were victorious. The university council released a statement saying that they have resolved to commit the university to ending outsourcing of service workers. The council also pledged debt relief for students.
The student strike at Wits University gained momentum when the vice chancellor and his executive deadlocked in negotiations with maybe 2,000 students in the occupied Senate House (renamed Solomon Mahlangu House) over a fee hike of 10.5% for next year.
In August 2015, residents from Ginsberg blockaded roads demanding better roads and other services from the local municipality. In the following month of September, the month when the founder of Black Conciousness in South Africa, Steve Biko, saw a number of political parties coming to Ginsberg to commemorate the 38th year since Steve Biko was killed. The political parties were the ANC, EFF and the DA.
A primary school in Alexandra with no sports facilities was declared new district championship winners of the school’s rugby tournament Gordon primary school was […]
Students at the Elsenburg Agricultural College near Stellenbosch have vowed to persist with their call for transformation despite the compromise to have full English and […]
It has been a year since the Khayelitsha Commission concluded its work on policing. The work of the commission covered a lot of challenges facing policing in Khayelitsha some of which include domestic violence. It found that the police were ill equipped to deal with cases involving domestic violence and women abuse.
Trainee nurses at Port Elizabeth’s Lilitha campus spent three weeks locked out of the college protesting against a new protocol that required them to wear their uniforms when attending lectures.
The nurses, who are based at Lilitha’s sub-campus at Dora Nginza hospital, felt that the college was overstepping its mandate as this was not part of the agreement they had signed when they enrolled for their nursing programme.
The recent High Court ruling in which garnishee orders against 15 consumers were declared unlawful and was a victory for the poor.
The lack of Afrikaans teachers caused a week-long closure of schools in “coloured” areas of Port Elizabeth. Protests that started in Port Elizabeth’s Northern Areas […]
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