Thursday, 23 January 2020
Dennis has a research background in labour, land and housing. He writes about cities, farm work and popular politics in the countryside.
For over half a century harrowing 600km train journeys between Mozambique and the Witwatersrand goldfields were a central feature of gold mining under racial capitalism on the Rand.
The label is used so often it runs the risk of monotony. But a new report sheds light on the full, multidimensional nightmare of South African inequality.
Hundreds of former mineworkers in the platinum belt around Rustenburg have been abandoned to disease and starvation. Now, Sibanye Stillwater is trying to evict them.
A high-level whistleblower detailed in court papers this week how Samancor shareholders and directors allegedly robbed South African chrome workers of billions of rands. This is how he says they did it.
A former director of the world’s second largest chrome producer has detailed how investors and a government stole billions from minority chrome shareholders, including thousands of workers.
Chronic joblessness haunts South Africa’s rural reaches. New proposals, while contested, suggest that part of the answer lies in planting new, labour-intensive crops.
The ‘shutdowns’ spreading across Gauteng are intended as targeted xenophobia. But the actions of one mob in Joburg’s inner city show that, in practice, they can harm anyone in their path.
Tokyo has become as much a home to global reggae as Kingston. In Joburg’s dancehall underground, Jun Morikawa is ensuring Japan makes its mark.
Parliament is considering using R2 billion meant for the country’s depleted railways to pay part of a debt incurred by private motorists. Meanwhile, commuters ride in windowless trains.
Like most of South Africa’s township film theatres, the Kings Cinema died shortly after democracy was born. Now, the grand dame of Alex big screen is back.
The unemployment figures in Statistics South Africa’s latest quarterly report are shocking, but 3.5 million people are missing from the official count.
According to a new report, the smaller cities that link South Africa’s rural and metropolitan centres face serious economic problems.
At the annual Maimane Alfred Phiri Games in Alexandra, tens of thousands of fans demand nothing less than pure township football. It’s a tough ask.
Despite a new funding mechanism to upgrade shack settlements, they appear to be absent from minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s priorities.
Cycling is affordable and good for the environment but South Africa’s busiest city has failed to make room and safety measures available for those who cycle.
Attempts to stave off economic decline and keep the festival globally competitive have meant constant change. This restaurant, however, is a welcome constant for artists and audiences.
School students changed the course of history when they took to the streets of Soweto on 16 June 1976. What happened to their classmates in Alexandra two days later is a lost story.
Company executives fed Corn Flakes to primary school children in Gauteng on World Hunger Day. But nearby, a former Kellogg’s worker couldn’t bear to look at the cereal it produces.
A judge lambasted game farmer Arthur Rudman for alleging he was threatened by former workers. But with the farm’s empowerment scheme being liquidated, the fight is only beginning.
Joburg’s flagship public bus system was meant to connect a divided city. Ten years later, and in the wake of a budget boost, Rea Vaya’s transformative vision remains unrealised.
You will probably never get to see the grit and grace of Sunday football in Mpondoland. It’s part of the Baleni league’s magic, but also the downfall of its more talented players.