No recourse for exploited Vodacom customers
The mobile operator will cut data prices by 40% moving forward, but is off the hook for its alleged price discrimination against the poor in the past.
News
Trucking violence blamed on high unemployment
Following ongoing violent attacks on mostly migrant long-distance truck drivers, the South African Human Rights Commission is trying to uncover the reasons they are targeted.
LanXess workers strike against exploitation
Striking Numsa members at Rustenburg’s LanXess chrome mine will not budge until management has addressed profiteering, corruption and sexual harassment.
Crumbling coalitions cripple service delivery
The Tshwane metro has been placed under administration, the City of Joburg has no majority and Nelson Mandela Bay’s coalitions have collapsed. All the while, the people suffer.
ANC family tries to run black farmers off their land
The politically connected Nelani family is suspected of thwarting a couple’s decade-long attempt to formalise the lease for the state-owned land they have farmed productively for 31 years.
The ANC battle for control of eThekwini
Thabani Nyawose and Zandile Gumede both claim to represent the poor ahead of the ANC conference that will decide who becomes chairperson of the influential KwaZulu-Natal region.
India prosecutes Kashmiri social media users
Kashmiris are skirting the government’s social media ban by using VPN apps, leading to charges of ‘terrorism’ for accessing restricted platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Residents are dying a slow death in derelict hostel
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality promised to build new homes for the residents of a condemned hostel built almost eight decades ago. But they are still living in cramped, unsanitary conditions.
A leap towards undoing Joburg’s spatial apartheid
The Nodal Review might transform South Africa’s biggest city. Implementing the new policy, which has the potential to open wealthy suburbs to impoverished residents, is the challenge.
Africa must act on pesticide ‘double standards’
Toxic farming chemicals banned in Europe are still used widely in Africa despite growing evidence that they harm the environment, food security and possibly human health.
Another blow for crisis-ridden Prasa
Adding to the debt-ridden state entity’s woes, the rail agency now faces prosecution for anti-competitive conduct regarding bus terminals and services.
Deetlefs maintains his innocence at Aggett inquest
The Security Branch officer who interrogated activist Neil Aggett before his death still insists he never used violence, despite other detainees giving evidence that he abused and threatened them.
Xenophobia towards Venezuelans on the rise in Peru
Venezuelans fleeing the dire situation at home face an increasingly hostile welcome in Peru, where parliamentary candidates recently campaigned on promises of tighter border controls.
Delhi: Poison seeds, bloody harvest
The hatred that has been spread in the capital city of India in recent months is now being channelised into grisly mob violence.
Family feud over land halts Umbumbulu development
A piece of land that could be developed to benefit the Umbumbulu community near Durban has instead been unused for years because of a protracted dispute.
Minimum wage to increase by just 76 cents
Economists and unions have criticised the government for its 3.8% increase to the national minimum wage, saying it condemns workers to poverty and is a missed opportunity to grow the economy.
Samancor workers bear the brunt of alleged corruption
According to a whistleblower, part of the reason many Samancor workers live in cramped shacks is that the chrome miner has robbed them of billions of rands.
Abahlali rejects draft bill on expropriation
The shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has taken a firm stance on land expropriation without compensation, insisting that it has to favour the landless and not the elite.
Public transport inequality
The Competition Commission’s market inquiry reveals that South Africa’s public transport system remains skewed by class, to the advantage of middle and high-income earners.
Urine power in a Durban shack settlement
A pilot project could be the answer to electricity, water and waste woes as a communal ablution block is being lit up by batteries that generate power using a microbial fuel cell.
eThekwini commuters pay for council’s contracts
Perhaps a commission of inquiry can shine the spotlight on public transport in Durban, where bus and taxi passengers have to contend with fare increases and disrupted services.