Wrapping up 2024

Its that time of the year when we say goodbye. We will definitely be back in 2025. We have achieved a lot this year and are doing well in attracting and maintaining audiences. Below are some of the stories we covered that we think are worth recalling.

Earlier this year, Mitchells Plain residents protested outside the police station after it was revealed that 15 firearms and imitation guns were stolen from the police station. This was not the first time this had happened at the same station. The residents were worried that the stolen guns would be used to commit violent crime in the area.

About 50 residents of Mitchells Plain protested outside the police station . File photo by Mzi Velapi

With the ongoing genocide in Gaza and its effects on Palestinians from all walks of life, a group of journalists in South Africa held a protest in solidarity with Palestinian media workers.

Ahead of the budget speech, community organisations, trade unions and activists protested against the current budget cuts that have already affected education and health. Cuts to government’s health and education budgets are unjustified and crippling the economy while increasing inequality, the protesters argued.

The protesters said the government should tax the rich to end poverty and bridge the inequality gap in South Africa. Photo by Mzi Velapi

An exhibition match between the Palestinian national soccer team and the Western Cape SAFA (South African Football Association) invitation XI, that was played at Athlone stadium over two legs and ended in the teams sharing the cup, was hailed as a successful show of solidarity for the people of Palestine.

Congolese nationals, activists and various organisations took to the streets of Cape Town in March to highlight the genocide that is happening, mainly in the eastern parts of the mineral-rich country in the centre of the continent. Congo has experienced intense war and conflict in the east since 1996, touched off by the 1994 Rwandan genocide which lasted for three months and claimed close to a million lives. The Global Conflict Tracker estimates that about six million people have been killed since 1996 making it one of the deadliest conflicts in world history.

About six million people have been killed and millions displaced due to the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. File photo by Mzi Velapi

Our national election coverage this year included major parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo. Our reporters went out and about speaking to voters about the issues that they want the current government to focus on.

Renowned activists and some respected voices in the left in South Africa, penned an opinion piece arguing that following the outcomes of the 2024 general elections, what South Africa was seeing was not a government of national unity (GNU), but a neo-liberal elite pact.

Residents of informal settlements were the hardest hit by heavy downpours, cold, and high winds that engulfed parts of the Western Cape for two straight weeks in July this year.

Nombulelo Bonani showing her flooded shack to the human settlements minister. Photo by Vincent Lali

The community of Riverlands, a small village between Atlantis and Malmesbury in the Western Cape, reeled from the loss of their homes, livelihoods and damaged infrastructure due to a flood resulting from the rupture of three dams on the Dassenberg Farm after heavy rains in August this year.

In a space of a few days in August, hundreds of homeless people who had called the streets of Cape Town’s CBD their home, were moved to shelters while others found alternative accommodation. The city obtained a court order in June 2024, which gave them the permission to remove homeless people from several sites in the CBD.

Two homeless people, sleeping along Wale and Buitenkant Streets. File photo by Chris Gilili

Cape Town and Johannesburg residents joined rallies held globally to mark a year of Israel’s war on Gaza. Led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestine Solidarity Alliance, and the South African BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Coalition, demonstrators marched to parliament on Saturday, the 5th of October, calling for the adoption of the ‘Apartheid Bill’ to isolate Israel.

Residents of Cape Town in November heavily criticised the proposed electricity tariff hike during a two-day public hearing that was held by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa). Residents of areas such as Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Hanover Park dismissed Eskom’s proposed 40% tariff increase as unacceptable.

In August 2023, hundreds of Cape Town’s residents protested against electricity tariffs outside the City of Cape Town’s offices. Archive photo by Mzi Velapi

Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) officials told the inquest into the Enyobeni Tavern tragedy that despite the Buffalo City Municipality rejecting the tavern’s building plan, the board granted their application for a liquor licence. The inquest will resume on 31 March 2025.