Regions

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.

Orange Farm protestors demand the removal of councillor

25th May 2016 Dibuseng Phaloane 0

Prolonged violent service delivery protest in Orange Farm south of Johannesburg caused disruptions that brought the township to a stand still.
The Golden and N1 highways were both closed with burning tyres and rocks causing traffic jams in and around Orange Farm.  The number of schools closed increased from 4 to 12 in just 3 days. Students were forced to join the protest. Foreign shop owners donated hundreds of loaves of bread and drinks to protesters to avoid looting of their shops after one of them shot and wounded a 15 year-old boy who was allegedly trying to loot during the protest.

East London women suffer water outages

25th May 2016 Anele Mbi 0

Women in informal settlements of East London were the hardest hit by the recent water outages. Even though areas like Braelyn Extension and Nkandla informal settlement experienced water outages for only three days, the impact was huge and immeasurable.

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.

LGBTI festival highlights hate crimes against homosexuals

8th December 2015 Elitsha reporters 0

Hate crimes are not yet recognized as unique crimes under South African law and there are no reliable figures about the extent of the problem in the country. Although South Africa is one of the few countries that recognises same-sex marriages, hate crimes are still prevalent.
Recent studies show that homophobia is still a major problem. A 2013 study by the Pew Research Center found that up to 61 per cent of South Africans believe society should not accept homosexuality.

Shulana Court evicted via the backdoor

8th December 2015 Nicolas Dieltiens 0

Shulana Court is a small, building in Yeoville close to Hillbrow. Seventy-odd year-old Aaron Mbatha, stayed there for over 20 years until he and all the other residents were thrown out. The Hawks descended on the building, searching for four members of the tenants’ committee. Just two were unfortunate to be at home at the time, but the police arrested all the residents.