The Expropriation Bill — democratic South Africa’s third attempt since 2008 to replace apartheid legislation still on the statute books — has been enmeshed in controversial, but ultimately stalled moves for a constitutional amendment for compensationless expropriation.
The current legislative…
After 14 years of highly controversial amendments, South Africa’s parliament has finally approved the Traditional Courts Bill. The Bill now awaits the signature of the President to become law.
The Bill seeks to regulate the structure and functioning of traditional courts in a uniform way. It also…
The mining executives responsible for the Jagersfontein mine dam wall burst, which has claimed lives and caused major destruction to the community, must be held accountable for the loss of lives, homes and people livelihoods, Amnesty International South Africa said today.
According to reports three…
Citizens of rural communities across the country who are fighting for their land rights are outraged at the government’s treatment of them, likening it to apartheid and colonialism.
Violence, intimidation, assassinations and dispossession are continuing in parts of the country as black South…
South Africa needs a people-centred and deep just transition framework. Unfortunately, the recently released “Framework for a Just Transition in South Africa” by the Presidential Climate Commission fails to achieve this. Here’s why.
While the introduction to the framework acknowledges the urgency…
Erosion and tidal surges are threatening fishing communities in West Africa. As a result, many people are fleeing inland — losing their livelihoods. The sea has already encroached two meters into the country's interior.
Rising sea levels threaten many fishing communities in West Africa…
Representatives of a group of civil society organisations are calling for the United Nations Development Programme to retract a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone that could contribute up to 10% of South Africa’s total emissions from all sectors…
The controversial River Club site in Cape Town, where giant international retailer Amazon plans to build a South African headquarters, has been embroiled in a protracted legal battle – with rival indigenous groups campaigning for and against the development. Here are the voices of indigenous…
In photos: Cape of floods
City residents battle cold and rain as a heavy storm hits Cape Town
The Kuilsriver gushes along Covid informal settlement in Mfuleni, Cape Town, flooding the bordering houses. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Cape Town has been hit a by a huge storm. Our journalists photographed…
So little money has been allocated to cleaning up the legacy of the South African mining industry that it will take another 70 years to clean up just a fraction of the country’s more than 6,000 abandoned mines.
There are roughly 6,100 “derelict or ownerless” mines scattered across South Africa,…
The latest flood disaster comes just six weeks after parts of KwaZulu-Natal were struck by devastating flooding in which more than 400 people died. At least 80 people are still missing. More than 40,000 homes were destroyed. Dozens of roads, bridges and water and electricity infrastructure were…
This is what it looks like when unregulated, illegal mining meets governance failure – a fire in a coal mine that has been burning for weeks, leaving nearby communities choking in the fumes. Perhaps most worryingly, nobody knows the extent to which fires may be burning underground.
What do noxious…