• Petition to address the list of demands of SFMFDefiance
    This is in accordance with FREE decolonized education.
    6 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Thato Malema
  • Respect Customary Marriages In South Africa
    MEDIA RELEASE: New date agreed by the parties in the recognition of Muslim marriages class action Today, Monday 20 March 2017, the before Human Rights Day, a new date was agreed by the parties concerned for the recognition of Muslim marriages class action to heard by the High Court. The 28th August has been agreed. A directions hearing was convened by the High Court this morning after the Judge President ordered the consolidation of a further matter pending before the High Court which similarly highlights the plight of Muslim women. There are several matters that are pending at a number of courts across the country. This is testament to the fact that Muslim women are struggling to assert their rights because their Muslim marriages and the consequences arising therefrom are not legally recognised. They have no option but to plead their cases with the courts and the judiciary. Given the importance of the matter three judges have now been appointed to hear the matter. Namely; Judges S Desai, G Salie-Hlophe and NP Boqwana. This morning saw women come to the steps of the High Court from all over Cape Town to show solidarity and support for this matter. The lived reality of these women is that legal protection has been denied to them some 16 years after the Constitution came into force. This results in widespread oppression and gender discrimination in areas such as divorce, the duties of support, parental rights and responsibilities and inheritance. Press Release On Other Case Outcomes: http://www.wlce.co.za/images/press%20releases/WLC_Customary%20Marriages%20Act_Limpop%20ruling_020816%20press%20release.pdf Article: Are nikah and sindoor equal to wedding rings and lobola?: http://www.standup.co.za/bambanani-social-justice/resources/63-wlc-customary-marriages-case.html Also Read: http://www.polity.org.za/article/official-customary-law-and-the-disruption-of-patriarchal-power-the-case-of-msinga-2013-09-26
    31 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Stand UP! Foundation Picture
  • Hands Off Our Grants
    Ma Grace, a pensioner from Makwassie in the North West province, experienced airtime deductions from her SASSA account despite her not owning a cell phone. In February 2014, Minister Dlamini ordered SASSA to refund Ma Grace for these monthly airtime deductions. Mr Bani, a pensioner from Nyanga near Cape Town, received a partial refund for unauthorised & unlawful loans deductions from INFAJFIN in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape after months of seeking recourse. But there are still scores of beneficiaries who are struggling to register their recourse complaint, let alone enjoy the benefit of a refund! In May 2016, in a decisive move, the Minister of Social Development issued new regulations to stop the tide of unauthorised and unlawful debit and other deductions from the SASSA bank account. But in June 2016, Net1, a few of its subsidiaries and other commercial companies took DSD and SASSA to court in four legal cases. The Black Sash and six co-applicants asked the court to order that the Minister publish regulations to protect social grants from exploitation if: (a) DSD and SASSA’s interpretation is correct; and (b) that the interpretation renders the new regulations unconstitutional. Government should be given the opportunity to fix the new regulations, if defective, to protect vulnerable beneficiaries from predatory and unscrupulous financial and other third party service providers. Finally, we note the Constitutional Court order in April 2012 that SASSA must lodge a report within 14 days, of not awarding a new tender, “on whether and when it will be ready to assume the duty to pay the grants itself” (in-source). In November 2015, SASSA submitted a plan to ConCourt with clear deliverables & timeframes for taking over payment of grants by the end of the CPS/SASSA contract in March 2017. We are closely monitoring SASSA’s progress in this regard.
    2,378 of 3,000 Signatures
    Created by Black Sash
  • A Call to the SACS Schools Governing Body for Transformation
    The importance of this petition cannot be understated and is paramount to the future of the educational landscape of South Africa. A prosperous future for our nation requires those at the greatest disadvantage to be provided with access to the best schools and the best opportunities to succeed. Former Model-C schools are, by and large, public institutions and as such should act in the public interest rather than the interests of the economic elite.
    479 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Old Boys for Transformation
  • Save the last remaining District 6 land from alien building developments.
    From 1960 to 1983, the apartheid government forcibly moved 3.5 million black South Africans in one of the largest mass removals of people in modern history. There were several political and economic reasons for these removals. First, during the 1950s and 1960s, large-scale removals of Africans, Indians, and Coloureds were carried out to implement the Group Areas Act, which mandated residential segregation throughout the country. More than 860,000 people were forced to move in order to divide and control racially-separate communities at a time of growing organized resistance to apartheid in urban areas; the removals also worked to the economic detriment of Indian shop owners. Sophiatown in Johannesburg (1955-63) and District Six in Cape Town (beginning in 1968) were among the vibrant multi-racial communities that were destroyed by government bulldozers when these areas were declared "white." District 6 land earmarked for restitution was 150 hectares, but developments on the land have reduced the land to 42 hectares. More is planned to be taken away. By having D6 declared a National Heritage Site stops further encroachment, meant for restitution. It does not stop an appropriate and comprehensive development that speaks to restitution and restoration. Shahied Ajam, director of the District Six Working Committee, says: “The social evils affecting our people today can be attributed to the apartheid legacy, where gangs and drugs are a direct result of people being dispossessed ... and having to defend their territory.”
    1,022 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Horst Kleinschmidt
  • Build another police station in Nyanga, Cape Town
    Community safety is compromised here and we can't keeping seeing the same result in the Crime Stats report. People are increasingly unsafe and our constitutional rights are surely in jeopardy here with the state failing to provide adequate security. Imagine this: a community where people don't have enough space due to overpopulation and informal settlements, a clear breeding ground for many social ills with this ignored problem of ever-increasing crime stats. All of this happening in a City with an impeccable tourism track record and is considered the go-to place around the world. This irony can no longer be ignored. It's in these small actions, i.e. building a much-needed police station that we can start to turn the tide and provide support to the communities that desperately need it. Clearly those in power in this province aren't interested.
    1,421 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Nelisa Ngqulana
  • Stop discriminatory hair rules at Fairbairn College
    Black girls are not allowed to have afros,twists,dreadlocks etc. Only certain types of braids are allowed. Boys of colour with "nappy" hair are discriminated against. White children are often given a pass on hair regulations while children of colour are sent home until their hair is what the school constitutes as neat . Soccer is not allowed as it is predominantly played by people of colour.
    236 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Michael Adams
  • Enviroserv Shongweni Landfill must shut down or be removed away from black townships
    Here are the facts as strong reasons from the most affected communities, black communities to demand the dump site to be closed down immediately: 1) The site is physically located within the close proximity of black communities (Ntshongweni, Dassenhoek, KwaNdengezi, Buxfarm and Cliffdale) while EnviroServ is legalized to take-in highly hazardous waste. 2) There is no Social Impact Analysis (SIA) component complimenting the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA), which should speak into the social and cultural effects of the landfill for Black communities 3) There has been, multiple times, breach of promise to deliver Air Quality Monitoring Systems in Black communities, which are by the way more proximate to the landfill. Instead, these systems have been placed in elite white communities “because they complaint more” in directly quoting EnviroServ’s reply to the question. This reactionary model of EnviroServ is rather appalling and resonates with the neo-liberal nature that favours the needs of the resourceful (elite). The poor in this scenario is totally neglected simply because they lack resources to perform EnviroServ’s job. 4) EnviroServ organized multiple meetings during the intensifying season of complaints since April 2016 in which none of them were convened in the most affected, Black communities but in the elite convenient centers such as Assagay Hotel. 5) The absence of robust community engagement strategy for an operation such as EnviroServ can only confirm that Black community sensitivity is absent within this multi-million corporation. 6) The minority Black that was part of the monitoring groups confirmed on a public meting that they have been raising these concerns and EnviroServ neglected them. We as the affected black communities demand the removal of this site with immediate effect as it does not reflect a human-centered development but top-down approach or even the sustainable development principle which failed to consider the future generation's needs in an effort to help the current meet their needs today. We are that future generation that was not forethought of when the site was approved by the Apartheid government in 1992.
    438 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Siyanda Chonco
  • STOP UNDERINVESTING IN EXISTING PROFESSIONAL NURSES
    It has come to our attention that public hospitals in South Africa are asking professional nurses to register for postgraduate studies such as the Postgraduate Diploma in Nephrology Nursing Science (1-year course), offered at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. However, nurses are told to pay from their own pockets for a qualification that will not only benefit them but also the hospitals in which they work at as well as the patients they will nurse and the general efficient functioning of the public healthcare sector. The healthcare sector is in crisis in part due to government's lack of investment in existing nurses, as well as hospital administrations' mismanagement of funds and/or misallocation of funds. Investing in nurses' further education will result in a happier and healthier work environment and will result in greater worker satisfaction which will translate to better care for patients. We ask that the hospital management and government acknowledge the funding of nurses' further education as a social investment, not as a cost. As it is, the public healthcare sector is seeking to retain as many of its nurses as possible and not lose any more to the private sector and brain drain. We ask that you invest in existing nurses, thereby decreasing the necessity of outsourcing specialists from outside of the country.
    223 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Sibahle Khuzwayo
  • End financial exclusion of students at TUT
    Without the qualification one studies for many doors remain inaccessible to the students who cannot afford to settle account while they have academically qualified to graduate. If the purpose of our nations creation was meant to usher in an age where social caveats become meaningless & society is developed by empowering those who were previously left out of the development of their fatherland then surely denying access to someone whose single mother might have been able to pay their fees but falls short because of the death or insolvency of a parent or guardian; should that person continue to live in the shadow of poverty accepting any menial work while depriving the nation of an educated and industrious talent? Surely our nation can do better by a youth who offers so much promise for tomorrow; and surely a youth whose only solemn plea to its government and institutions of higher learning remains steadfast and sincere in the acquisition of education which is meant to benefit the entire society regardless of race, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation or whatever artificial social constructs that stop us from looking at people as they are; people. The promises made to the parents of my generation are now long overdue; our youth need their society to raise them up because without our youth in a position towards social mobility the continued degeneration of our nation is a gurantee. Economic apartheid needs to be abolished so that no more African children have to feel outcasts in the land of their birth based only on the commas and numbers on their academic records instead of the fortitude of the discipline it took to achieve these qualifications amidst strenuous circumstances. We can no longer turn our backs on the vulnerable members of our society and expect them to fend for themselves and then wonder why crime, murder, drug abuse and the like continue to adversely affect SA's youth. The time for change is NOW!
    59 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Sbu Karim Napaai
  • Justice For under-age Pregnant Ratlou Girls
    The impregnation of school going girls steals from their future and perpetuate the cycle of poverty. More than 2000 underage girls have been impregnated in a municipality with a population of around 150 000
    182 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Makashule Gana
  • Amend the Port Rex THS code of conduct
    Black Scholars have been for a long time been excluded from and oppressed by the code of conduct. It is time for that to stop.
    79 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Bhut Lekese