The tide turns to mining on the Olifants River
The government granting prospecting rights around the river mouth, which is being declared a community-based marine protected area, threatens food security and livelihoods.
Stories by: Barry Christianson
Independent candidate disrupts election narrative
Like elsewhere in South Africa, residents in Bonteheuwel have become alive to the possibility of replacing politicians who don’t serve them with councillors focused on their local needs.
Rain, hopes and fears on voting day in Lavender Hill
Mark Nicholson runs a foundation and feeding programme in the Cape Town township. He outlined the problems that residents faced on the day of the local government elections.
Book Review | Memories and images of District Six
A Cape Town architect photographed the buildings and people of District Six at the height of forced removals. His work is finally available to a much wider audience, thanks to his nephew.
The slow squeeze on Port Nolloth’s fishers
The Aukatowa cooperative is struggling to thrive amid the diamond fields of the Northern Cape, as the state-owned mining company Alexkor limits its access to the sea and degrades fishing grounds.
Photo Essay | Rural residents get Covid jab
Non-profit organisation Right to Care has been taking vaccines to underserved areas of the Eastern Cape, giving protection to more than 4 000 people in a month.
How Leon Trotsky birthed a bookshop
Borrowing one of the Marxist revolutionary’s books sparked a love of political reading for the owner of Surplus in Cape Town, where a huge collection can be found.
Part three | HIV lessons for Covid-19
The last in this three-part series highlights how, unlike during the HIV and Aids epidemic in South Africa, no ordinary people have taken to the streets to demand vaccines.
Part two | HIV lessons for Covid-19
The second in this three-part series shows the critical role communities played in HIV and Aids treatment in rural Lusikisiki, a neglected aspect of the government’s coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Part one | HIV lessons for Covid-19
The first in this three-part series looks at how South Africans overcame the pharmaceutical patents blocking access to life-saving antiretrovirals during the country’s first epidemic, HIV and Aids.
In Pictures | Firefighters now fight for their jobs
Firefighters risked their lives to put out the flames threatening Cape Town. But more than 500 of them might be fired for trying to negotiate better working hours.
Handling Covid-19 with no government clinic in sight
Bulungula Incubator is using its Xhora Mouth health point to respond to infections in this rural Eastern Cape area, where the nearest government clinic is a three-hour walk away.
An inherited struggle for dance
Nokuthula Qobongwana inherited her mother’s passion for dance and hopes to make a living through it. Just as she was getting started, Covid-19 came and halted it all.
Photo Essay | Comfort in an old Cape favourite
As 2020 came to an end, residents of the Cape Flats attempted to carve out some fun within the everyday chaos of the pandemic by visiting the Sea Point swimming pool.
Cape Town mayor’s no-show sparks services protest
The Intlungu yaseMatyotyombeni Movement, a grouping of shack dwellers, shut down the Civic Centre in an effort to get the City to provide services in their newly established settlements.
Community health workers’ pleas fall on deaf ears
The Western Cape health department steadfastly refuses to grant permanent employment to these workers, who receive paltry salaries and little recognition for the vital roles they fulfil.
Another child killed by callous police action
Video footage shows that members of the Western Cape police’s public order unit fired blithely at the homes of protesters in Laingville, resulting in the death of nine-year-old Leo Williams.
Bonteheuwel community centre spat lands up in court
The community action network in Bonteheuwel has taken the DA ward councillor to court over who has the right to use the local multipurpose centre.
Photo Essay | Tafelberg judgment gives activists hope
The court has set aside the sale of a Sea Point property and ordered local government to address spatial apartheid, injecting energy and hope into the Cissie Gool House occupation in Woodstock.
Community Care Centre in Ocean View a success
Ocean View residents who test positive for Covid-19 can now quarantine and self-isolate close to home while trained volunteers from the area look after them.
Healing connection at a Covid-19 isolation facility
Residents at a well-run facility in Cape Town found sharing their experiences – both as patients and citizens – aided their physical and emotional recovery.