“Living in Emalahleni is like living in a closed bottle. It’s difficult to breathe.” By Ihsaan Haffejee An environmental activist in eMpumelelweni township in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, is determined to get government to improve air quality in the region. The air quality in the Emalahleni region is amongst the worst in the world. Promise Mabilo started the Vukani Environmental Movement which campaigns...

The short answer No. SASSA says unequivocally that no one should give their SASSA cards to any other person. The whole question Dear Athalie My elderly relative is living in a frail care facility. The staff took her SASSA card to buy "extra things" not provided by the home, like snacks, etc. But they never provide receipts, even after I asked! I eventually...

The short answer The loan repayments are contingent on your income and only begin when you are working and have an income of more than R30,000 annually. NSFAS also liaises with SARS to establish the income earned. The whole question Dear Athalie I received a loan from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in 2017 for my first year at university. For my...

PILG - Public Interest Law Gathering 2024 The New Possibilities and Challenges Presented by a GNU World Save the Date - 03 to 04 December 2024 Download the call for proposals: PILG 2024 call for proposals  

Minister of Justice opposed the case to have “defence of subjective consent to rape” scrapped By Geoffrey Allsop The Johannesburg High Court has delivered a significant judgment. It has declared unconstitutional the defence of “subjective consent” to a charge of rape. Judge Selby Baqwa said such a defence unjustifiably violates the constitutional rights of rape survivors and complainants to equality, human dignity, privacy and...

The laws “have not deterred … the selling or buying of sex … and are not rationally capable of doing so. They merely create greater stigma and vulnerability among sex workers and violate their rights.” By Tania Broughton A Cape Town sex worker, with the support of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), has launched a constitutional challenge to...

The rail agency was ordered to restore shelter to people it evicted from Cape Town Foreshore in August By Sandiso Phaliso The Passenger Rail Agency of South (PRASA) has been accused of contempt of court for failing to adhere to a Western Cape High Court ruling of 6 September to shelter families it illegally evicted in August from Transnet-owned land along Old Marine Drive...

Conference on hunger hears there’s more than enough food. Policy failures by both government and corporations are causing hunger. By Mike Loewe A conference that looked at hunger in South Africa, organised by Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Social Justice, was held last week. The Human Rights Commission’s Eastern Cape manager Dr Eileen Carter told the meeting it discovered that over...

The short answer You are supposed to pay UIF contributions until your employee stops working for you. The whole question Dear Athalie In April 2021, my domestic worker applied for a SASSA older person's grant. I then stopped contributing to her UIF because she would not be able to claim the benefits once she started receiving the grant. She kept working and officially retired...

Pilot programme rolled out to help recipients of the Social Relief of Distress grant to verify their identity By Marecia Damons Beneficiaries are struggling with identity verification for the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, causing delays and access issues. The process, which involves facial recognition through an SMS link, has been further complicated by delays at the Department of...