Dispossession of the Adriaanse family home
A family still seeks restitution after the apartheid state forced them off their farm and the current government used the ground for the Blikkiesdorp “temporary relocation area”.
Stories by: Barry Christianson
Cass Abrahams cooks up a culinary revolution
The food historian and Cape cookery expert’s work in the kitchen since the 1980s remains a touchstone for the cultural and historical value of Cape Muslim cuisine.
Cape Town’s homeless take on the City
The City of Cape Town has been fining people who live on the street and confiscating their belongings. But seven homeless residents, led by a woman tired of the inhumane treatment, are fighting back.
Children fear being shot and killed at school
Gang members in Hanover Park use the children leaving Blomvlei Primary after school as ‘shields’ to get closer to their rivals, and gunfire is common in the afternoons.
Shack fire victims left out in the cold
After a fire swept through a section of Masiphumelele township near Cape Town, razing homes and leaving residents without food or shelter, Sassa failed to respond despite being mandated to do so.
Workers take Oak Valley to court over ‘inhumane’ housing
Farm workers in the Western Cape winelands are still living in single-sex hostels at Oak Valley, as they were during apartheid. Now they are taking legal action.
Gangsterism versus football in Lavender Hill
The sound of gunshots regularly reverberates through the Cape Town suburb where gangs and residents vie for the lives of their youth.
The murder crisis in the Western Cape’s ganglands
Statistics reveal that 900 people have been killed in gang-related violence on the Cape Flats so far this year and police volunteers risk suspension by speaking out about it.
Amy Jephta and the tender theatre of memory
The winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for theatre brings home the need to keep remembering a past that displaced and dispossessed.
Workers sacrifice basic needs hoping for R230 a day
As the strike at Oak Valley Farm drags on, workers face either total ruin as their families begin to starve or long-term destitution if they give in and take the lower wage offer.
The protesting workers who grow Woolworths’ flowers
Oak Valley farm workers are weary of low wages for hard work and racially discriminating housing, leading to a protest deadlock that now has the union calling on big retailers to boycott the farm.
Gentrification and the athaan in District Six
A complaint from a resident surmised to be new to the area about the Zeenatul Islam mosque’s call to prayer has sparked outrage among long-time locals, Muslim and non-Muslim.
Anger drives Caledon protester to the polls
Priscilla Josi credits being shot while protesting against municipal failings in Caledon for her change of heart when it comes to voting.
Caledon youths who died asking for a better life
Two young residents tried to make a difference by joining a protest against the lack of electricity, decent housing and land in their area, and ended up dying for it.
Jazz and identity collide in Cape Town
The 2019 edition of the annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival raises awkward questions of access, privilege, power and representation.
New housing proposal to break apartheid barriers
The City of Cape Town could build low-cost housing on the sites of its golf courses and bowling greens, says report.
Sainthood: Abused boys and how we got there
Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni’s play goes behind the veil of secrecy at all-boys schools to interrogate the way masculinity is cultivated.
Marikana inspires creative resistance
Guitarist Reza Khota’s new album, ‘Liminal’, evokes the harsh borders of capitalism and, in summoning Marikana, addresses a growing chasm in our collective psyche.
After the Khayelitsha inferno
Blowy residents recall their night of terror as they begin the long labour of rebuilding their shattered lives.
Western Cape teachers go unpaid for months
Migrant teachers have not been paid for several months over issues relating to the issuing of Zimbabwean exemption permits.