Colonialist statues are a mote in varsity students’ eyes
By Victoria John, Kwanele Sosibo — Waves of pickets, protest marches and sleep-ins have swept the campuses of South African universities since the beginning of March. Students at universities, such as Cape Town (UCT) and Rhodes, want transformation in higher education. They want Eurocentrism to be wiped off campuses. They are demanding that the names of physical […]
Post Office fires employees for illegal strike
Cape Town – The SA Post Office (Sapo) dismissed six employees who violated a court order during the illegal strike that crippled postal operations in the last quarter of 2014, it said on Wednesday. The dismissal follows an internal disciplinary hearing which resulted from a conviction by the Pretoria criminal court in November 2014. The […]
21,000 pupils pregnant last financial year – report
Johannesburg – Around 21,000 schoolgirls, including 717 still in primary school, were pregnant in the 2013/14 financial year, Netwerk24 reported on Monday. This is according to a written reply in Parliament from the basic education ministry in response to questions asked by the Democratic Alliance. The most pregnancies were in Gauteng (5,273) and the Eastern […]
SA’s youth need to pay salaries and not earn them
Boksburg – The youth of today need skills and training to become entrepreneurs and create jobs and help grow the economy in the future. This was a major message on the first day of the he national consultative conference on the national youth policy. The two-day conference in Boksburg brought together 500 people from around […]
Elite hoard Angola’s new-found wealth
When a small group of supporters gathered outside the court where this week the Angolan journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques went on trial, they were arrested. A woman was beaten up – this is the price Angolans pay for dissent. Mr Marques might pay a far higher price for criticising seven army generals, […]
Eskom says 1000 Medupi workers fired
About 1 000 workers at the construction site of South Africa’s Eskom Medupi power plant have been fired for vandalising property during this week’s one-day strike, the power utility’s spokesperson said on Friday. About 21 000 contract workers went on a one-day strike on Wednesday over poor living conditions and seeking higher pay. “Some of […]
Contraception at schools on Gauteng’s agenda
By Persomé Oliphant — Gender activists have welcomed talks between two departments about ways to reduce teenage pregnancies, but no decision has yet been taken. Gender activists have welcomed talks between the Gauteng departments of education and health about introducing contraception in schools. “All provinces should ensure that contraception is provided to teenage pupils at schools […]
Roll over Ebola: measles is the deadly new threat
By AFP– A consequence of the Ebola epidemic is a steep drop in measles vaccinations as overburdened hospitals are unable to keep up. The people of Monrovia’s Peace Island ghetto, refugees of civil war who found themselves suddenly overwhelmed and outmanoeuvred by the deadly Ebola epidemic, are used to life under siege. Yet with Liberia […]
Checked: 80% of South African schools indeed ‘dysfunctional’
By Kate Wilkinson — Our education system is often described as being in crisis. A recent claim says 80% of schools could be “dysfunctional”. Afrika Check looked into it. South Africa’s “dysfunctional” educational system is one of seven ways in which the country’s government “abuses black people”. This was argued by the deputy chief executive of […]
It matters who teaches you, Graça
By Adam Haupt — A group of scholars called Transform-UCT recently came together to address transformation over and beyond existing bureaucratic bodies, such as the Transformation Services Office and transformation committees in various departments and faculties at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The scholars mobilised to address remarks made by vice-chancellor Max Price about the […]
