GroundUp

GroundUp is a news organization that provides articles for other news outlets to republish, typically under a Creative Commons license. We focus on reporting news that serves the public good, particularly highlighting the human rights issues faced by marginalized communities. Our goal is to create impactful stories that foster change.

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RDP occupiers protest at Ekhurhuleni mayor’s office for services

2 days ago | groundup.org.za | Kimberly Mutandiro

Over 50 residents occupying RDP houses in Nigel’s Mackenzieville Extension 2 protested outside the City of Ekurhuleni’s offices in Germiston on Thursday, demanding electricity and other basic services. Hundreds of residents unlawfully occupied the RDP houses in 2019 after the project was left incomplete and abandoned due to contractor failures.
SIU finds work paid for but not done on critical water infrastructure

2 days ago | groundup.org.za | Steve Kretzmann

Criminal investigations, civil litigation, lifestyle audits, and disciplinary action loom large as SIU probes dodgy water sector contracts The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) presented findings on five current water sector probes to Parliament on Wednesday. Under investigation is the Department of Water and Sanitation, water boards, and the Ethekwini Municipality. Fraud, uttering, irregular contracts, and ballooning budgets were par for the course, said the SIU.
Lesotho fishing company’s strange “error” on donations

3 days ago | groundup.org.za | Sechaba Mokhethi

SanLei Premium Trout, which farms trout in Lesotho’s Katse Dam under licence from the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), overstated its donations to the community, a GroundUp probe has found. The company told the LHDA it donated fish heads worth R2.9-million as part of its obligations to the community in 2024. But the true value was R450,000.
2,000 households in Katlehong without electricity and clean toilets

5 days ago | groundup.org.za | Kimberly Mutandiro

Residents of Palmridgeâ€™s Tsietsi Phase 5 and Phase 6 informal settlements in Katlehong are demanding that the City of Ekurhuleni urgently provide services. Residents say many of them have have lived in these two informal settlements since 1994. The settlements have grown since then and are now home to over 2,000 households. Yet there is no formal electrification, and up to ten families must share one chemical toilet. They say the toilets fill up quickly because they are only cleaned twice a month.
Lesotho’s health system has been decimated by US funding cuts

5 days ago | groundup.org.za | Sechaba Mokhethi

60% of the country’s HIV counsellors have been laid off and the country’s TB programme is faltering Despite previous assurances by Lesotho’s Minister of Health that the country’s HIV response will cope without US funding, senior officials say testing rates are dropping and prevention programmes have been gutted. Only 12% of Lesotho’s R2.2-billion health budget was government-funded last year. More than half of the budget came from USAID and the US Centre for Disease Control.
Closure of US-funded cancer clinic further burdens public hospitals

5 days ago | groundup.org.za | Elna Schutz |Elna Schütz

A major clinic screening for cervical cancer in Johannesburg has shut down due to funding cuts by United States earlier this year. Doctors say state facilities are already overwhelmed, and the closure of this clinic will worsen the situation. Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in South Africa.
Global Fund is $6-billion short and may have to cut life-saving programmes

1 week ago | groundup.org.za | Liezl Human

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund) has told its recipients that it is cutting funding amidst “significant disruptions” in the “financing landscape for global health programs”. Earlier this month, the Global Fund informed its recipient countries that it was going to revise its current grant cycle by mid-June due to funding shortfalls. Over 200 grants will be revised.
New play challenges xenophobia

1 week ago | groundup.org.za | Jan Bornman

A new production is tackling one of the most pressing issues in South Africa â xenophobia. Graveland is running at the Market Theatre until Sunday, 1 June. It challenges audiences to examine their personal biases and highlights the systemic failures that allowed xenophobia to remain unchecked for nearly two decades. The timing of the play coincides with the recent xenophobic violence in Addo in the Eastern Cape this week.
Debate over future of social grants

1 week ago | groundup.org.za | Marecia Damons

Black Sash hosted a discussion this week on whether removing social grants in an economy with high unemployment would worsen poverty and hunger. Black Sashâ€™s Rachel Bukasa and COSATUâ€™s Tony Ehrenreich argued that grants are a vital safety net amid job scarcity, rejecting claims that they breed dependency. Political economist Phumlani Majozi raised concerns about the fiscal sustainability of the grant system and criticised governmentâ€™s lack of clear plans for economic growth and job creation.
Protesters try to block Cape Town’s Central Line

1 week ago | groundup.org.za | Sandiso Phaliso

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, her deputy and PRASA management are launching the Chris Hani to Cape Town train route on the Central Line on Thursday. The reopening of the route, following years of closure, has been widely welcomed. But some people who were relocated to the settlement along Stock Road in Philippi East used the opportunity on Tuesday to try and block the railway line with burning tyres and metal.