An architect of apartheid should not be honoured as the long term effects of the Verwoerd administration are still being dealt with, and the country is still healing from the evil acts of this man. The name triggers bad memories, of suffering and loss. We cannot change history, but we can make South Africa a better place to live in.

150 Stellenbosch University workers were dismissed at the end 2015 after demonstrations at that university calling for the insourcing of all workers under the #EndOutSourcing banner. 88 of the 150 dismissed workers were contracted by G4S Secure Solutions. Most of the dismissed workers had been involved in landscaping and as private security staff. Following that the university placed a moratorium on outsourcing. During the Stellenbosch shack demonstrations, in an attempt to justify its inaction in resolving the matter, the university cited that it was not within its legal parameters to intervene in the matter as it was an issue between the outsourcing company and the workers, this is despite the fact that these workers contributed to the daily running of the university and logically it would be in the best interests of the university to resolve the matter amicably, this is truly astounding logic for a university that prides itself in academic excellence yet fails to exercise even the most basic intellecual exercise of logical thinking, but to expect logic and sense from the bastion of Afrikaner Nationalism would be to burden ourselves with false hope! In addition to the dismissal of the Stellenbosch Workers, 188 UWC outsourced workers contracted to the security services company, Securitas, have been dismissed. Since students of UWC waged the fight for free decolonized education and an end to outsourcing, service providers and University Managements have sought to suppress the movement by taking protesting workers to Labour courts with allegations of absconding from work. Initially, the workers had successfully won the case. Their legal team presented the undisputed truth that workers did not abscond from work but in fact stayed away because the campus was on shutdown due to reason being that the UWC refused to engage students in an honest and genuine manner. Securitas, the service provider, soon after the Court ruling embarked on a bias and illegal internal hearing chaired by a person(s) favourable to them. In this bogus hearing, charges were mischievously replaced from the originally defeated in court claims which alleged absconding to manufactured charges now of hostage. On Friday of the 13th January 2017 over 180 workers were found guilty of this false charge and were immediately dismissed. Most of the workers dismissed are bread winners to largely poor families. They have children to feed, buy uniform and schools stationary. This dismissal means that our black parents might see their children being expelled from schools due to being unable to afford registration fees. The University of the Western Cape under the leadership of Tyrone is anti-black and they have declared a war against all the black bodies which do not subscribe to their mediocre and dictatorship leading style which advances capitalist agenda. The Fees Must Fall Western Cape movement stands firm against all forms of victimisation and extends its warning to the University of the Western and the University of Stellenbosch that failure to re-instate unfairly dismissed workers will result in aggravated protests that will hinder the full functioning of both Universities. It simply cannot be that over 300 black families are displaced outside of the economy by frivolous and maliciously applied labour laws by University bureacrats in tandem with private companies. We therefore call upon all those who stand in solidarity with the student-worker aliance to put their signature in support of the reinstatement of our parents. 'We are all connected. When one arm or foot is poisoned, the whole body becomes infected.' -Suzy Kassem #BringBackTheWorkers

Just recently, the body of 22-year-old LGBTQ activist Noluvo Swelindawo was found near the N2 highway in Driftsands, a community near Khayelitsha. She had been shot in an alleged hate crime. It is in this light this, and many other cases of ongoing hate crimes against the LGBTI community that we welcome Cabinet’s approval to publish the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill for public comment. The Bill tackles a number of highly complex issues that require consultation with those most affected by the changes - if it is to achieve its stated aims to prevent and combat deaths like Noluvo's - and a proper consultation process takes time. We have waited for many years for the public release of the bill, and it is of utmost importance that the public consultation period allows civil society and the public in general to thoroughly and meaningfully engage with the bill and its potentially far-reaching provisions. After it has taken government nearly four years to draft the Bill, it is alarming that the public has been given a mere five weeks (until 1 December 2016) with a short extension over the holiday season (to 31 January 2017) to comment thereon. If the purpose is to craft an effective bill, the state needs to commit to coordinate robust public engagement and undertake in a process of deep reflection to ensure that the bill that is passed is the best bill possible. The current timeline does allow us to attempt to reach this ideal. As such, we are calling on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to extend the deadline for public comment to the 30 June 2017. We further request clear and detailed information on DoJ’s plan for convening extensive public consultations with representatives from civil society, non-governmental and community-based organisations and interested individuals on the draft bill.

On Monday the 2nd of January 2017, a number of areas including the Qweqwe, Payne, Zimbane, Maqhinebeni, VIdgiesville, Mqanduli and the surrounding areas were hit by a severe hailstorm which left many desitute and homeless [1]. Homes, schools and churches were severely damaged and a number of people were rushed to hospital with injuries. During this time of the year this kind of weather uis expected and it is deeply worrying that everytime our Municipality is caught off guard with no contingency plan. We know that it is norm for Disaster Management to delay responding to these disasters even though they have a set budget for such. This is evident even in this case, there has not been any statement issued to declare or any information to give guidance to the affected communities like a toll free number or contact offices/persons We however, commend the Department of Health for being visible and issuing a media statement going as far as offering assistance to those injured. [1] Lightining strikes Seven people in Mthatha, Jenni Evans, News24

If our parents are robbed of their hard earned, blood sweat contribution to this administrators, then most children will loose their inheritance for education and livelihood. Remember this is not a grant but monies contributed by this employees, it is a day robbery of everything they would ever have to change the economy of their lives.

We can improve service delivery and fight corruption in our Municipality by ensuring all Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) are public and easily accessible to all. Some politicians, officials and businesses are scared about transparency, but if they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide. * This campaign by amandla.mobi is supported by Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

This is a violation of human rights and reminiscent of the apartheid government's issuing of dompasses. The Saldanha Bay Municipality should be working to make public spaces more accessible to poor and low-income families, not reinforcing spacial divisions along racial and class lines.

In 2015, we witnessed the most forceful and sustained student movement in the post-apartheid era under the banner of #FeesMustFall closely followed by workers’ #OutsourcingMustFall campaign. In 2016, these campaigns continued. University management across the country responded by securitising campuses leading to violent attacks on protestors, preventing students from walking in groups of more than three and, until this day, searches of students and faculty inside and outside of campuses. Hundreds of student activists have been arrested and suspended throughout South Africa. Claire Ceruti, is a former Ph.D. candidate at the University Johannesburg (UJ), who has been prevented from continuing her studies because she was prominent during the student and worker protests. Claire Ceruti is an author of the award-winning Class in Soweto. Her Ph.D. thesis is a deeply theoretical and exceptionally historically and empirically grounded longitudinal study. Those who have worked with Claire admire her astute scholarship and commentary on a wide range of subjects which include sociology, feminism, collective action, labour studies, Marxism and race and class analysis. She was active in the struggle against apartheid and continues the struggle against neoliberal capitalism. Although we are of the strong view that Claire’s exclusion is politically motivated, the official reason UJ administration gave is that she did not complete her Ph.D. in time. They present the analogy that a sprinter who runs 100 metres in less than 10 seconds doesn’t get a medal and that she was not fast enough in her own “sprint” to complete her Ph.D. This neoliberal market-oriented logic which puts quantity before quality is dangerous since it suggests that if someone invented a cure for cancer in 10 years, their knowledge contribution would be worthless. On Behalf of the South African Sociological Association (SASA). SASA Executive: President: Sonwabile Mnwana Vice-President: Nomkhosi Xulu Gama Secretary: Luke Sinwell Treasurer: Carin Runciman

Leopard Creek is reported to only pay rates of R35 000 a year for its entire property, which includes 271 palatial home, and was valued at R1.4 billion in 2012. Leopard Creek entered into this agreement with the erstwhile Malelane transitional council in 1996, before the Municipal Property Rates Act was promulgated in 2004. The Nkomazi Local Municipality argues that the agreement became null and void when the rates act came into effect. So Leopard Creek Share Block should be paying R9.8 million a year, or R822 950 a month. The municipality has already spent R2 million in legal fees trying to force the company to pay more. The people of Malelane in Mpumalanga, will be the ultimate beneficiaries when Leopard Creek pays. Leopard Creek is owned by Johann Rupert, whose net worth is $5.3 billion (R73 billion). Rupert continues to rake in monies at the expense of the poor.

Virginity testing has been found to violate young women's constitutional right to equality, dignity and privacy [1]. Chapter 12 of the Constitution says “a traditional authority that observes a system of customary law may function subject to any applicable legislation and customs, which includes amendments to, or repeal of, that legislation or those customs.” It cannot be that in a democratic country we still have practices that reduce women’s worth and value, and MPs applaud such and go unchallenged. [1] Virginity tests for bursaries are unconstitutional - gender equality commission,Thulani Gqirana for News24. Oct 25, 2016.

These are just some of the regressive proposals in the Refugees Amendment Bill. We only have until this Friday to make public submissions to tell Home Affairs to scrap the aspects of the Bill that deny refugees' basic human rights. Advocacy groups such as Lawyers for Human Rights have already pointed out that the Refugees Amendment Bill is at odds with our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international conventions. Read more about this issue here: https://africacheck.org/factsheets/refugee-amendment-bill http://www.lhr.org.za/policy/lawyers-human-rights-submission-refugees-amendment-bill

Syferbult is a very impoverished community of over a 1000 people living in shacks. About a hundred of the adults get seasonal work, from two to four months of the year; the rest make do on whatever grants they can access. Despite a contractor putting in taps and pipes that function, fgor years the community has received slightly erratic tanker water. In September, they received nothing for three full weeks. Since then they have received approximately four tankers (enough for drinking water for four days) and the water has run in the taps twice for about 45 minutes (without any warning or notification). The councillor for Ward 36 claims this is because they owe Eskom R6000; I've also been told the water can't be pumped because of: cable theft; problems with the diesel generator; a circuit breaker malfunctioning; and the township has not been formalised (if so, why was infrastucture contracted and put in place?) On 18 October, the thirsty, dusty and dirty community finally exploded and marched in protest. They were met with rubber bullets and tear gas - one person was injured, thankfully not seriously. And still the children, the sick, the elderly are thirsty - so thirsty that when we arrive with bakkie-loads of water, they run and jump on the back of the moving vehicle, unable to hold back, desperate for the precious fluid. This is unconstitutional. "The right of access to sufficient water is accorded to everyone in s 27(1)(b) of the Constitution, which states that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient water. Section 27(2) requires the State to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right." Syferbult is not alone in this plight. I have heard of at least six other communities in Rustenburg area with the same problem. Yet phoning, emailing, attending meetings , buttonholing the councillor.... nothing works. Please spread this far and wide.