For people who receive a grant or need to receive one. By Gabrielle Kelly and GroundUp Staff This is an overview of South Africa’s social grant system and how to apply for social assistance. GroundUp updates this article regularly. This page was originally published on 6 March 2013. It is currently being updated (7 March 2023). (Please note that GroundUp is not affiliated with the Government...

“The holding of political office and remaining registered as a medical practitioner are not mutually exclusive” says judge By Tania Broughton Last year in a widely circulated video, Limpopo Health MEC Dr Pophi Ramathuba told a hospitalised Zimbabwean patient: “You are killing my health system. It’s unfair.” A preliminary committee of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) found that...

Ruling on the display of the flag in private homes to be determined at another hearing, if brought before a court By Tania Broughton The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has ruled that displaying the old South African flag is hate speech, unfair discrimination on the basis of race, and harassment, upholding an Equality Court ruling. The SCA however amended the...

A new means test and bank verification process has resulted in far fewer people getting the grant By Liezl Human The R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant should be increased to R413 in line with inflation, say the Institute for Economic Justice and the the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa. The organisations noted with concern that the only aspect...

The short answer If your injury happened less than two years ago, your injury on duty case should still be open. The whole question Dear Athalie I was injured on duty, but now I have been retrenched because I cannot do my work properly. The doctor says I may have to use crutches or a wheelchair. Can I reopen my worker's compensation case? The long answer An injury...

The short answer Yes, both partners in a civil union can choose what surnames they will be known by. The long answer The Civil Union Register allows both spouses to choose the surnames by which they will be referred after their marriage, and Part E of the Civil Union Register allows them to indicate the surnames they wish to be recorded in...

Jason Brickhill, director of litigation at SERI, remembers how Equal Education and the Legal Resources Centre built the school infrastructure norms and standards case By Matthew Hirsch Jason Brickhill, director of litigation at SERI and keynote speaker at the first Yoliswa Dwane Public Lecture, remembered how the case for school infrastructure norms and standards was built. “It is a profoundly important...

Children are far behind in learning to read and it is getting worse By James Stent Basic literacy among children in South Africa has declined, a new report from the 2030 Reading Panel has found. Most children leave grade one without knowing the alphabet, while 82% of grade 4 children cannot read for meaning. Only the Western Cape and Gauteng are...

The short answer It may be that your mother and children and the separated wife and her children are both entitled to inherit. The whole question Dear Athalie My mother, my siblings and I lived with my father in his house although he was married to another woman. There is a lobola letter for my mother. Can we change the title deed to my...

“We came to the Post Office and they said there was no money” 11 January 2023 | By Marecia Damons On Friday, Postbank acknowledged that a glitch had prevented many social grant recipients from accessing their January 2023 payments. Postbank said the issue had been resolved. But GroundUp visited a Cape Town payment branch on Tuesday and found several beneficiaries had still not...