Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Dennis has a research background in labour, land and housing. He writes about cities, farm work and popular politics in the countryside.
The so-called Spanish Flu that marched across South Africa a century ago influenced the way our cities are laid out today. What can we learn from that earlier outbreak?
A century ago, so-called Spanish Flu was beginning a menacing march across South Africa. As we continue to endure the airborne coronavirus pandemic, what can we learn from the last one?
Two years ago, the Constitutional Court confirmed that firearm ownership is a legislated privilege, not a right. But a high court judge stepped in to protect criminal gun owners.
The coronavirus lockdown has added new dimensions to a decades-long struggle for electricity in the far west of Soweto, where residents have challenged the situation fiercely in recent weeks.
Economists and Nairobi water company cut off impoverished people’s water supply in the Kenyan capital in an effort to establish if landlords will pay their outstanding bills.
The first estimates of how the coronavirus has impacted livelihoods have arrived and the data is harrowing, showing women and lower-income black earners are disproportionately affected.
Tito Mboweni’s special adjustment budget shows that the slow implementation of the new grant to alleviate the economic impact of the lockdown has resulted in a decrease in available funds.
About 1 600 families in the Stjwetla shack settlement in Johannesburg are standing on the verge of seismic change. This is the story of one of them.
Under level four of the Covid-19 lockdown, the hours from 6am to 9am became the time when inner-city residents could use local parks to escape the nightmare around them.
The newly established grant intended to bring informal economy workers into South Africa’s social security net during the lockdown has had a disastrous start.
Street traders are central to food security in Johannesburg. But since being declared an essential service under lockdown, street trade in South Africa’s biggest city has returned to uneven ground.
When people call South Africa the most unequal country in the world, they’re talking about income. Now, we have a clear picture of how unequally the country’s wealth is distributed.
Underground liquor has a long history in South Africa. Its next chapter is being written under the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
In the calm, community members have been central to readying townships for Covid-19. But only the storm will tell if their efforts have been successful.
The economic shocks of South Africa’s lockdown will devastate impoverished communities. Proposals have emerged that may be sure bets to soften the blow.
Commuters who use public transport are at high risk of infection, but Johannesburg’s bus, rail and taxi systems are not yet prepared to stem the spread of Covid-19.
As resistance against zero hours contracts at the chocolate confectionery continues at the CCMA, allegations have emerged that the company is using those contracts to discipline workers.
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.
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.
As the Karoo hopes for an end to its worst drought in a generation, the region’s history may hold important lessons for its future.
Joburg’s inner city parks struggle with drugs and crime. But in some parks, draughts and other board games are helping to open a new way for public spaces.