The politics and promise of a pandemic treaty
Covid-19 has shown just how ill-prepared the world was to fight pandemics as a unified unit. A proposed pandemic treaty, whose intentions some experts question, aims to change that.
News
New mine owners trample on Namibian workers’ rights
A state-owned enterprise from China bought a huge stake in the Rössing Uranium Mine and immediately began downgrading working conditions before dismissing union leaders.
Egudwini residents live in water limbo
Water is a scarce and often unaffordable commodity for rural communities on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. They feel deeply neglected by uncaring councillors who never respond to their pleas.
Italy’s regularisation laws a nightmare for migrants
In a regularisation drive fraught with irregularities, migrants who work in Italy face an uncertain future as they struggle in applying for special permits that are arbitrarily issued.
Farm worker faces eviction despite residency rights
Buyiswa Dayi lives on the Eastern Cape citrus farm where she was born, but now faces eviction by her employers despite seeming to have legal security of tenure.
Red Ants cause havoc and heartbreak in Joburg suburb
Despite the government moratorium on evictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, local authorities continue to drive people from their homes, often helped by private companies.
South Africa’s mental health facilities are ailing
The Human Rights Commission has found a lack of staff, beds and clean, secure facilities plague institutions across the country, leaving patients unable to access the help they need.
Killing in the name of blasphemy
Pakistan’s harsh laws against religious profanity are being abused to settle personal and political scores, leading to an alarming rise in convictions and even murder.
A luta continua: students fight financial exclusion
A combination of the effects of the pandemic, irregular expenditure and budget cuts mean prospective students are being stopped from registering for the 2021 academic year.
Why the gig economy must be regulated
In the first of this three-part series on workers in the e-hailing industry, we look at the exploitation Uber Eats food couriers in South Africa face, without their basic labour rights.
The expense of Palestine labour
Palestinian workers risk their lives to work in Israel, where they are exploited as cheap labour, and women face subjugation in Israeli companies.
New bill wants SA to halt trade with Israel
Israel’s export of weapons to the United States and South Africa – and a proposed law to stop this and other trades – was discussed at this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week.
Long Read | Penny Moore on variants and vaccines
New variants are now the priority in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. One of South Africa’s leading virologists tells us why that battle has only just begun.
Lula after convictions are annulled: ‘Never give up’
In a press conference held at the headquarters of the ABC Metalworkers’ Union, the ex-president criticised Jair Bolsonaro, saying ‘Brazil does not belong to him or the militia members’.
The indignity of life without water
Residents say it’s ‘inhumane’ to function without water as it strips people of their dignity and makes life much harder during a global pandemic.
Retired workers face eviction from pineapple farm
The Bathurst retirees say ‘South Africa’s biggest pineapple producer’ has disconnected their electricity and told them to demolish their mud homes.
Land occupiers have ‘nowhere else to go’
The occupiers of a piece of land adjacent to Sophiatown shack settlement say they have no option but to rebuild, no matter how many times the police tear down their shacks.
Pupil sent to fetch principal’s phone from pit toilet
The principal of Luthuthu Primary School in the Eastern Cape has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly coerced a pupil into retrieving a cellphone from a pit latrine.
New Covid-19 grant, old Sassa problems
A sharp increase in the number of social grant recipients after the introduction of the special grant during the pandemic has exacerbated the strained grant payment system.
Education assistants finally get paid
The persistence of more than 150 Eastern Cape education assistants, who resorted to weekly enquiries and protests, is paying off as the department starts honouring its contracts after three months of no pay.
Students take their struggle to Constitutional Court
Free education is their right, say students who feel the pressures of financial exclusion, and it is high time the court intervenes to make it a reality.