Encouraging signs after Covid-19 jobs bloodbath
Unprecedented increases in South Africa’s unemployment levels were largely reversed after the easing of the hard lockdown instituted to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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Ruin in the aftermath of Durban’s xenophobic attacks
The Umkhonto weSizwe attacks on traders in the central business district have forced migrants in already precarious positions to start from scratch, again, while fearing for their lives.
Significant Slapp ruling against Australian miner
While environmental lawyers and activists have hailed a major win against Slapp suits, corporations still use the legal system and their enormous resources to silence critics.
Taxing the rich has a wealth of potential benefits
Raising the taxes paid by South Africa’s estimated 350 000 wealthiest individuals could deliver much-needed additional revenue to the state’s emptying coffers.
Former security police continue to deny, deny, deny
The old Security Branch officers testifying at the reopened inquest into Neil Aggett’s death are sticking to their remarkably similar stories, the same ones they told at the original inquest.
Questions over vaccine readiness in rural EC areas
Healthcare service shortcomings in rural Eastern Cape are well documented and will affect the province’s vaccine rollout plan.
Darren Sampson faces suspension from practising law
The Legal Practice Council wants to suspend the attorney with bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety who could not get the mental health support he needed and eventually swore at a judge.
Taking those first steps at school in a pandemic
Parents grapple with mixed feelings of uneasiness and excitement as their children get ready for “big” school while the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc.
Failed justice casts shadow over ICC trial verdict
The International Criminal Court has found a Ugandan warlord guilty of horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the ruling has brought scant relief to his victims.
New hit on Indian independent media and free press
The press freedom crisis in India is not new. But with Narendra Modi’s government facing heat over the ongoing farmers’ protest, his regime has renewed its repression of dissenting voices.
Cost can be unbearably high for whistle-blowers
Exposing corruption, abuse of power and criminality pits those who take the risk against powerful vested interests in government at all levels.
Rica spying without telling found unconstitutional
In a victory for journalism and the legal profession, the Constitutional Court has upheld a 2019 high court decision declaring sections of surveillance law unconstitutional.
Renewed flight from Central African Republic turmoil
A Central African Republic refugee helps people fleeing the most recent spate of violence there to settle into a Cameroonian camp.
VW shop stewards fight coronavirus strike dismissal
Auto-manufacturing workers who were crammed together in Volkswagen’s Uitenhage factory during the Covid-19 pandemic want their shop stewards reinstated.
The law keeping Ugandans behind bars
A colonial-era practice and archaic laws are keeping offenders with mental health impairments in prison indefinitely, sometimes for longer than their sentence would have been.
Buffalo City cuts off residents in billing fight
Residents were disconnected from electricity for six days after being told to pay high and inaccurate water, electricity and rates bills, some of which were in other peoples’ names.
Pakistan’s Hazaras want violence and neglect to end
A recent protest against the killing of coal miners has shed light anew on the precarious and marginal lives of Shia Hazaras in Pakistan, and their struggle for justice and safety.
The scarcity and expense of Covid-19 vaccines
Fatima Hassan, founder of the non-governmental organisation sounding the alarm bells over vaccine procurement issues, speaks about pricing, transparency and rollout strategies.
PE struggles under the weight of Covid-19 bodies
Those who help bury the dead – from gravediggers to undertakers – have been struggling to cope with the rise in demand during the second wave of the pandemic in Nelson Mandela Bay.
A despot’s time to face democracy
Events of the past week have proven that the Zondo commission investigating state capture cannot conclude its work without former president Jacob Zuma’s honest testimony.
Payback time for workers fired from Luxor Paints
The company has been ordered to reinstate and compensate employees it dismissed unfairly after a strike. And although a court review may delay justice, the workers won’t give up the fight.