20 organisations ask state capture commission to issue interim report… Dear Judge Zondo, We write to you as concerned members of the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture, which comprises more than 20 civil society organisations. In February 2020, we presented an Agenda for Action to the Commission, which is based on detailed submissions […]

Six people have died and four more are in a critical condition at False Bay Hospital, Fish Hoek, in South Africa after being admitted for methanol poisoning on Monday evening, 1 June. Natalie Watlington, Western Cape Department of Health Principal Communications Officer for Southern Western Sub-structures, confirmed the cases with GroundUp. Watlington said, “Western Cape […]

Conservation groups from South Africa and around the globe have called on the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and their Global Tourism Crisis Committee to phase out close-contact wildlife encounters and entertainment practices in tourism to help build a more resilient and sustainable industry going forward…. writes environmental writer Louzel Lombard Steyn.  This as […]

Jackson Babi, a well-known Prophet, along with a police officer attached to the Very Important Persons Protection Directorate, was amongst seven suspects arrested on Monday in Namibia for poaching and trading in wildlife contraband… writes Niël Terblanché from Informante. Lightning quick investigative work by members of the Protected Resources Division of the Namibian Police saw […]

I liked this ‘Back to School’ image because what I would really love right now is a road sign telling me exactly what direction to take… says South African GP Dr Rosie Carey (known as Dr Rosie to patients). Instead, my internal compass resembles one of those old city maps of Granada, with crooked narrow […]

As a philanthropist rather than a psychologist I know more about people helping each other than I know about why they do it. What I know at the moment is that we’re seeing much more in the way of actual help for those affected by coronavirus than I’ve seen for any other cause, anywhere in […]

A group of mostly elderly women from KwaMnyandu in Elandskop near Pietermaritzburg have dug up an old spring so their village can have uninterrupted water supply. The women cleared away trees and shrubbery and some of the men in the village helped them dig and connect the pipes to supply water to many homes in […]

This week South Africans are wildly sharing a compassionate post that has already gone viral around the world, as different countries before SA embraced the easing of lockdown regulations. Now, it will soon be SA’s turn for more freedom, as the country prepares to move from Level 4 to Level 3 on Monday 1 June […]

Low-income families have increased their spending on food by more than 30% since March when the national Covid-19 lockdown began. This is according to a report published by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PEJDG) on Tuesday. The Group collected its food price data from five supermarkets and four butcheries that serve poor households […]

Dr Anban Pillay, the acting director-general of the Health Department, has requested an investigation into the conduct of Dr Glenda Gray, the president of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in South Africa, claiming that she has “made a number of false allegations against government”. These concerns were described in a letter dated 21 May written […]

Before you read this article, pause for a moment and look at the nail on your little finger. That’s about the size of a new species of seahorse discovered in the waters of Sodwana Bay, South Africa, which falls within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site, in KwaZulu-Natal province. Hippocampus nalu grows to […]

The number of Covid-19 patients at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town is doubling every five days, according to a doctor, one of several at the hospital that GroundUp spoke to. The hospital will not be able to cope unless something is done. “I expect there will be an excess of patients needing care even […]

In a victory for “invisible, undocumented children”, unwed fathers will soon be able to register the births of their children without the mother being present or giving consent. In a ruling this week, three judges of the Eastern Cape High Court, deemed the relevant provision of the Births and Death Registration Act, to be unconstitutional. […]

R0 is on everyone’s lips these days, and it is a critical measure of the epidemic that guides predictions and policies. Yet how R works is widely misunderstood and this leads to inappropriate conclusions. I hope this article will clarify some misunderstandings… writes Max Price. But I must emphasise the examples here are for the […]

With the sale of alcohol banned for over seven weeks, the illegal booze trade has mushroomed and prices rocketed. People who used to frequent shebeens in the southern Cape, say syndicates have stepped in and are charging exorbitant prices for conventional brands of alcohol. In response, people have started to brew their own liquor at […]

In Africa, the wildlife conservation industry has dealt with many a challenge, from political, economic, social, impacts of urbanization and even disease outbreaks. However, most of these challenges, have been contained to parts of the continent. Whereas with the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we have experienced unprecedented challenges the world over… writes Dr Duncan […]

While there is general scientific consensus that the novel coronavirus is of zoonotic origin and various groupings are advising that wildlife markets must be closed, the South African government has been putting forward legislation that could massively expand the wildlife industry to become mass meat suppliers to the world. Last year, the Department of Agriculture, […]

The Covid-19 global pandemic has unprecedented health and socio-economic consequences for millions of people across the world. Each country affected has introduced numerous measures, including public health interventions, restrictions on movement, as well as state and other relief and stimulus packages to reduce its impact. South Africa has a history of grand corruption and low […]

Every so often, a pandemic emerges that dramatically alters human society. The Black Death (1347 – 1351) was one; the Spanish flu of 1918 was another. Now there’s COVID-19. Archaeologists have long studied diseases in past populations. To do so, they consider a wide array of evidence: settlement layout, burials, funerary remains, and human skeletons. […]

Court orders suspension of police and military involved in the torture and death of Collins Khosa. By Tania Broughton, GroundUp.   The Pretoria High Court has sent a strong message to law enforcement officers and rapped the Ministers of Police and Defence over the knuckles. In a ruling on Friday, the court confirmed the constitutional […]

It’s day eleven seventy thousand, and the lockdown categories have changed. So a re-write is about as overdue as a presidential address, and your wax appointment… writes Kim Nicola Stephens (a Cape Town mom of three, and Sport & outdoor communication consultant). Middle class South Africa in Lockdown Level Four can now be categorised as […]

“If we continue like this the virus is going to kill us.” Shopper Zimasa Nkuhlu is worried that other customers at the Nyanga Junction Mall in Philippi in Cape Town are not respecting social distancing rules or wearing masks. She told GroundUp many people did not take the risk of Covid-19 seriously because when the […]

Appeals against plans for a huge new wind farm on the West Coast have been dismissed by environment minister Barbara Creecy, paving the way for the addition of up to 140 megawatts of renewable energy into the national grid. John Yeld reports. This is the Juno Wind Energy Facility, planned for a farm in the […]

The South African government seems to have gone from an absence of data coupled to a firm but sensible strategy of lockdown to delay the pain of COVID-19, to a multitude of inputs and a seemingly cavalier attitude to the restrictions. Statistics South Africa has submitted data on how the pandemic has devastated the country’s […]

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting worried… writes Alan Knott-Craig. The Corona-virus lockdown is getting me down. It’s getting me depressed. It’s making me a bit scared. It’s not the curfew, or the lack of exercise, or too much time in a confined space with my family, or the alcohol & cigarette ban, […]