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News

Source: GroundUp/Lubabalo Ngcukana. The 11-storey Botha Sigcau building in Mthatha caught fire on Tuesday night.

Construction & Engineering

Eastern Cape government hub gutted by fire

Lubabalo Ngcukana 9 hours

Source: GroundUp/Postbank.

Banking

Postbank to resume black card rollout in April

Marecia Damons 7 hours

Police kept protesting former municipal workers away from Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s State of the City address in Germiston on Wednesday. Photos: Kimberly Mutandiro / GroundUp

Labour Law & Unions

Ekurhuleni’s “ghost workers” demand jobs and compensation

Kimberly Mutandiro 27 Mar 2026

Terry Bell has died. Source: X.

Media

Terry Bell: Celebrated South African journalist passes away at 84

26 Mar 2026

Part of a wall at Rivoni School for the Blind’s new campus that has collapsed. The school was originally meant to be completed by June 2024. Photos: Thembi Siaga / GroundUp

Primary & Secondary Education

R198m school for the blind incomplete and left to ruin

Thembi Siaga 26 Mar 2026

Image credit: The Green Connection

Mining

Mining companies and land rights in South Africa: how environmentalists have used the law to defend communities

Mzingaye Brilliant Xaba 26 Mar 2026

Source: Peter Luhanga/GroundUp. An aerial view of Khayalam informal settlement in Khayelitsha beside the N2.

Affordable & Social Housing

What Cape Town is spending on homes, roads and the N2 wall

GroundUp Staff and Peter Luhanga 25 Mar 2026

Source: GroundUp/Peter Luhanga

Construction & Engineering

Court blocks building along Cape Town’s Diep River floodplain

Peter Luhanga 25 Mar 2026

Small-scale fishers from the West Coast picketed outside the Cape High Court on Monday. Photo: Liezl Human

Coal, Oil & Gas

TotalEnergies in court over offshore oil and gas drilling

Liezl Human 24 Mar 2026

Source: GroundUp/Matthew Hirsch.

Construction & Engineering

Cape Town affordable housing projects inch forward

Matthew Hirsch 19 Mar 2026

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the primary responsibility for managing local disasters in terms of the Disaster Management Act rests with the district municipality, but the local municipality and relevant provincial departments are not absolved of responsibility. Illustration: Lisa Nelson / GroundUp

Human Rights Law

Constitutional Court slams government over treatment of disaster victims

Tania Broughton 18 Mar 2026

Most social grant fraud involves officials, not beneficiaries, report says

Health & Social Welfare

Most social grant fraud involves officials, not beneficiaries, report says

Marecia Damons 19 Mar 2026

Source: GroundUp/Masixole Feni.

Property Development

Government sent back to the drawing board for Tafelberg site

Matthew Hirsch 16 Mar 2026

Source: GroundUp. Bulk services work on Botmaskop Estate at Helshoogte outside Stellenbosch before an April 2025 interdict prohibited any further construction.

Property Development

Judgment reserved in Stellenbosch luxury estate battle

John Yeld 16 Mar 2026

After 13 years of litigation and R2.5-million in legal fees, a maintenance fitter who was found by arbitration and several courts to have been unfairly dismissed is a step closer to receiving compensation. Illustration: Lisa Nelson / GroundUp

Labour Law

Worker wins compensation case after 13 years of litigation

Tania Broughton 16 Mar 2026

Tongaat: A ticking time bomb set to go off in April

Agro-processing

Tongaat: A ticking time bomb set to go off in April

Tania Broughton 13 Mar 2026

Pollution is killing Gauteng’s fresh water sources

Food, Water & Energy Security

Pollution is killing Gauteng’s fresh water sources

Seth Thorne 12 Mar 2026

Activists criticise social grant “savings”

Health & Social Welfare

Activists criticise social grant “savings”

Marecia Damons 6 Mar 2026

The University of Cape Town staff unions have reached agreement on a wage deal after a strike last week. Photo: Liezl Human / GroundUp

Higher Education

UCT staff strike ends as agreement is reached

Liezl Human 4 Mar 2026

In photos: How Cape Town is converting waste into electricity

Circular Economy & Waste Management

In photos: How Cape Town is converting waste into electricity

Jeffrey Abrahams 4 Mar 2026

A photo taken by inspectors from the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry at a sweatshop in KwaZulu-Natal. Photo supplied (GroundUp)

Corporate & Commercial Law

Clothing company implicated in sweatshop scandal cries foul

Tania Broughton 2 Mar 2026

Government fossil fuel subsidies triple under Ramaphosa

Environment & Natural Resources

Government fossil fuel subsidies triple under Ramaphosa

Michael Cherry 27 Feb 2026

UCT staff protest outside the institution’s administrative offices on Thursday. Photo: Liezl Human / GroundUp

Higher Education

Striking UCT staff demand 7% increase

Liezl Human 26 Feb 2026

The Constitutional Court has ruled that an employee cannot claim constructive dismissal claim based on the anticipation that working conditions will become intolerable. Archive photo: Ciaran Ryan / GroundUp

Labour Law

ConCourt rules on constructive dismissal after 18 months

Ohene Yaw Ampofo-Anti 25 Feb 2026

Wesley Neumann in court. Photo: Marecia Damons / GroundUp

Labour Law

Labour Court refuses to enforce school principal’s reinstatement

Marecia Damons 24 Feb 2026

Source: Ihsaan Haffejee/GroundUp.

Affordable & Social Housing

Assassinated Abahlali leader praised for fighting land grab “mafia"

Ihsaan Haffejee 23 Feb 2026

Source: Sechaba Mokhethi/GroundUp.

Infrastructure & Utilities

A R7bn dam but no tap water for local villagers in Lesotho

Sechaba Mokhethi 20 Feb 2026

Doctors complain about choice of equipment at Gauteng hospital as thousands await cancer scans

Public Health

Doctors complain about choice of equipment at Gauteng hospital as thousands await cancer scans

Chris Bateman and Raymond Joseph 19 Feb 2026

Source: GroundUp/Ashraf Hendricks

Affordable & Social Housing

District Six families vow to fight eviction

Matthew Hirsch 18 Feb 2026

Wesley Neumann (right) with his legal representatives, advocate Rod Solomons (left) and advocate Vernon Seymour (centre), in the Labour Court in Cape Town on Friday. Neumann will not return to Heathfield High until the court rules on whether his reinstatement can proceed pending an appeal. Photo: Marecia Damons / GroundUp

Primary & Secondary Education

Battle over former Heathfield principal’s return

Marecia Damons 16 Feb 2026

The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that damages for future medical expenses in state medical negligence cases must be paid as a lump sum and not through the provision of treatment at public hospitals. Photo: Ben Bezuidenhout via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Medical Law

SCA rules medical negligence damages must be paid as lump sum

Tania Broughton 13 Feb 2026

Northern Praises, an unregistered independent school in Elim, is still awaiting feedback from the Limpopo Department of Education after applying for registration in 2018. Photos: Thembi Siaga / GroundUp

Primary & Secondary Education

Unregistered private schools leave learners and parents in limbo

Thembi Siaga 13 Feb 2026

Activists accuse Anglo of going AWOL

Mining

Activists accuse Anglo of going AWOL

Ihsaan Haffejee 13 Feb 2026

Photos of the living conditions, taken by inspectors from the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry, at Drake Clothing in KwaZulu-Natal. Inspections are carried out with SARS, immigration officials and the police. There have been some arrests for breaking immigration law. Photos supplied (GroundUp)

Labour Law

KZN sweatshops sued for labour law violations

Tania Broughton 12 Feb 2026

Dozens of communities downstream of the Katse Dam are owed compensation since 2013 by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Photo: Sechaba Mokhethi / GroundUp

Human Rights Law

Lesotho dam project misses deadline to pay multi-million compensation claim

Sechaba Mokhethi 11 Feb 2026

What Cape Town can do to save water

Food, Water & Energy Security

What Cape Town can do to save water

Steve Kretzmann 10 Feb 2026

Three key organisations have raised the alarm that Johannesburg and Pretoria Master’s Offices could be left “rudderless”. Archive photo: Ella Morrison / GroundUp

Law Practice

Johannesburg and Pretoria Masters’ offices still without permanent heads

Justin Brown 9 Feb 2026

High Court in Durban. Archive photo: Nomfundo Xolo / Groundup

Law Practice

Judge gets tough on incompetent lawyers

Tania Broughton 6 Feb 2026

Sassa suspends 70,000 grant payments in crackdown

Health & Social Welfare

Sassa suspends 70,000 grant payments in crackdown

Marecia Damons 6 Feb 2026

A sign outside Elshaddai Learning Academy advertises classes from Grade RR to 12, but accreditation authority Umalusi says the school has not applied for matric accreditation. This photo was taken last week. Photo: Kimberly Mutandiro/GroundUp

Primary & Secondary Education

Private school misleads parents about matric accreditation

Kimberly Mutandiro 5 Feb 2026

Source: GroundUp/RAF.

Financial Services

Anti-corruption watchdog blames politicians for dire state of Road Accident Fund

Justin Brown 4 Feb 2026

Film & Cinematography

Lights. Camera. But very little action. Why?

Nimrod Geva 4 Feb 2026

Cape Town’s water use remains too high despite Day Zero lessons

Food, Water & Energy Security

Cape Town’s water use remains too high despite Day Zero lessons

Kevin Winter 4 Feb 2026

On Friday, Wesley Neumann’s legal team asked the Labour Court to enforce an earlier ruling for his reinstatement as Heathfield High principal. From left: Advocate Vernon Seymour, Wesley Neumann and advocate Rod Solomons. Photo: Marecia Damons / GroundUp

Primary & Secondary Education

Principal Wesley Neumann’s return to Heathfield High delayed

Marecia Damons 3 Feb 2026

Film workers blame Pretoria for bringing industry “to its knees”

Film & Cinematography

Film workers blame Pretoria for bringing industry “to its knees”

Ihsaan Haffejee 30 Jan 2026

State is blocking access to Sassa grants, argue activists

Inclusion, Empowerment & Social Justice

State is blocking access to Sassa grants, argue activists

Marecia Damons 29 Jan 2026

Source: GroundUp.

Property Development

Why is UCT’s Jagger Library still boarded up?

Matthew Hirsch 29 Jan 2026

How informal businesses are reduced to rubble

Entrepreneurship

How informal businesses are reduced to rubble

27 Jan 2026

The Department of Social Development, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and National Treasury want a ruling that declared several regulations governing the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant unconstitutional overturned. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

Health & Social Welfare

SRD grant increase is “simply unaffordable” says Treasury

Marecia Damons 26 Jan 2026