• Stop SABC censorship
    The SABC is our public broadcaster and has to serve our interests. This kind of self-censorship is anti-democratic and not what our people struggled for in the national democratic revolution.By self-censoring reporting on these protests, the SABC is denying us our right to know which municipalities are failing to deliver services to their people, and the extent to which our people are unhappy with our local government authorities. This information is especially vital as we draw closer to local government elections where we will be choosing councillors and mayors. Journalists and Staff members at SABC are being suspended unceremoniously because they question the legitimacy of the self-censorship. Those with consciences are being forced to resign. Recently, under Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC opted out of a public consultation process in which the public could comment on the Broadcaster's draft policies.This resulted in Mr Motsoeneng giving himself the role of Editor-in-Chief and by that giving himself power to rule on any controversial editorial line and/or one which might have significant financial and/or legal implications, issues that should ideally be taken over by the Editor-in-Chief and not the COO. We are also aware that all of this is happening at the backdrop of a cloud around Mr Motsoeneng's qualifications and other irregularities at the SABC that the Public Protector has been looking into.
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    Created by SOS Coalition Picture
  • Shackville TRC
    ● The net impact of the internal and external judgements is devastating to the personal futures of black students from the RhodesMustFall movement and those who are in solidarity with them, and this impact on their lives is disproportion with the loss of a few items of private property. ● The basis of the expulsion, particularly through the interdict, is partly linked to the continued “threat” placed on the university by the presence of certain individuals. We provoke the question, if these students posed such a threat tothe campus and had negatively anarchic goals to “destroy the campus” and so on then why did we not see continued political violence after their studies had been interrupted? The lack of such sustained political violence supports the suggestion that it is not the objective of these students to “destroy the university”. ● Restorative Justice conducted in a manner that includes the university community creates the opportunity for dialogue in a context that by all accounts appears to be experiencing the stifling of debate and the experience of the limitations on freedom of expression. ● Pursuing restorative justice in this case potentially establishes a national precedence that demonstrates that our community can deal with the aftermath of political violence differently and not through mechanical, bureaucratic exclusion that will only result in creating an environment where people have nothing to lose. It is no surprise that police presence and expulsions have been followed by fire at our institutions. ● Shackville TRC as an open public process could provide a platform through which South African Youth and broader society can begin to critique and reimagine the advantages and shortcomings of the TRC as a process and provide a much needed reflective point. The RhodesMustFall movement, among many, are largely and openly critical and synical of the TRC process that brough South Africa’s present dispensation into being. This process could open up a space where those very criticisms and limitations can be tested and debated publicly as we continue to push towards a reflexive understanding of how we came to be where we are today. ● Shackville TRC will provide a space to problematise the ways in which the “victim” and “perpetrator” identities become used to individualise collective or mass action. Such a space could provide the basis for the emergence of a common memory of Shackville that takes into account a multitude of diverse experiences. In short, the gambit for the Shackville TRC pushes the University of Cape Town to take a consistent position on what the appropriate means of dealing with political violence are. It is either that restorative justice is desirable and a Shackville TRC is established or that the University of Cape Town must admit and reject publicly the legitimacy of post­1994 TRC as a process that, among many things, was tasked with addressing the legacy of political violence (and facilitating constructive reconciliation of communities in conflict). Is restorative justice reserved for powerful whites or when they are involved in political violence? Or can it also be used to provide different forms of engagement for the disenfranchised and dispossessed? Is restorative justice a luxury or an option? While many student collectives, persons and organisations involved have taken particularly harsh positions on the South African TRC and its failings we must call upon those proponents, the University of Cape Town being of them, to step forward and demonstrate the capacity and potential for restorative justice in post­conflict societies and communities. The liberal institutions who laud these TRC processes must be put to the test, let us as a community see whether they are capable of living up to the rhetoric they readily prescribe for conflicts and political violence that exist beyond the comfort of the ivory tower. Sign this petition now and breathe life into the Shackville TRC. This petition will be handed over on June 15 to UCT council thereafter we collectively demand the announcement of the halting of the internal proceedings and the commissioning of the Shackville TRC to be announced appropriately on Youth Day 2016, June 16 by 5pm. The commission structure and its terms of reference will be collaboratively defined by Council and representatives of the charged and sentenced, including those adversely affected by the events before, during and after Shackville. We call on organisations and individuals who promote and endorse restorative justice to openly issue support for this process as we look to turn a new chapter on the Student Uprisings of the 2015/2016 generation. Please email [email protected] for further letters of support
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    Created by Concerned South Africans
  • #DecolonizeLibraries now!
    Reform of Library and Petition By-Laws Consequences of the reforms being advocated: • Creating a process for citizen inititatives to be heard • Improving direct democracy in the city For the full proposed Petitions By-Law, please see Annexure A For the full proposed Library By-Law, please see Annexure B http://asri.org.za/sign-the-petition-for-public-library-and-by-law-reform-in-johannesburg/
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    Created by Nyiko Lebogang Shikwambane
  • WE WANT BETTER SERVICE FROM REA VAYA (BRT)
    This is important because Rea Vaya came with something amazing and we prefer it more than other public transport, some of us left our cars at home because BRT is efficient and reasonable.
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    Created by Concerned Commuters of South Africa Picture
  • Naspers must pay for its apartheid role
    Naspers, when given the chance to come clean during South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1996, refused to give a public account of just how deep its collaboration ran with the Apartheid government. The truth was never told. While Naspers insisted that it had nothing to account for, a group of conscientious 127 journalists who had worked for the company, defied the company’s management and delivered individual submissions, expressing their disappointment with Naspers and acknowledging their role in upholding the system of Apartheid through their work. The company's defense of the apartheid regime, and the hurtful way in which this complicity played out in the newsroom and boardrooms of the company makes the company party to gross human rights violations.
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    Created by Nqaba Mpofu
  • Make Gauteng Community Health Workers Permanent
    This issue is important because the health of poor communities, who have no options like private health care, depends on Community Health Workers. In a context of deteriorating health and other social outcomes, the outsourcing of these workers threatens to lead to a further deterioration in the health of township residents. The issue is also important because the Minister is avoiding her constitutional responsibility of providing decent, affordable health care, as well as her constitutional responsibility of fair labour practice.
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    Created by Boipelo Khukhe
  • Racist mass killer milking the poor
    In previous interviews Van Schoor admitted to shooting at least 100 black people he claimed were burglars around Cambridge, a white suburb in East London. In an interview with the Guardian in 2006, Van Schoor refused to apologise for the killings, saying he was merely doing his job. He is quoted saying, "I never apologised for what I did. I apologised for any hurt or pain that I caused through my actions during the course of my work." Government funds cannot be spent on benefiting unapologetic racist mass killers. That Louis van Schoor is a mentor and director for the beneficiaries of Kingsdale Dairy Farm is a slap in the face for the fight against racism and the quest for justice in Mzansi.
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    Created by Nqaba Mpofu
  • Business and industry must heed urgent call to save water
    Women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection. They often have to walk an average of 7 Kilometres a day just to collect water. If businesses reduced their water usage by 10%, 624,000 households would gain access to 30 kilolitres a day. For a sector that uses 27% of the total water supply overall, the response from the business community to date has been inadequate. While South Africa has been hit by one of the worse droughts in its history and the people of Mzansi have been inundated with messages on individual responsibility to save water, we fail to see a similar commitment by the business community, who have the resources and the money to act. We cannot allow for business interests to put profits before the lives of people. Endorsed by: ActionAid South Africa, African Civil Society Centre, Project 90 by 2030, Gender CC, Federation for a sustainable environment, Jukskei Catchment Management Agency Forum, 350Africa.org
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    Created by shanaaz nel
  • Violence Against Female Students
    For far too long females have been exploited and abused and no justice was served. It's time females are protected from males who exploit, sexualised and objectify them. Our mothers did not fight for our freedom for us to be exploited and for us to be toys for patriarchy.
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    Created by Sanelisiwe Ntabeni
  • Remove Judge Mabel Jansen for racist comments
    The fact that Jansen, who is supposed to uphold the rule of law in an objective and unbiased manner, could a) rise through the judicial ranks and b) defend her racism so eagerly is outrageous. How are we, as citizens of South Africa, supposed to trust that Judge Jansen will preside over cases fairly when she is so clearly racist and uninformed?
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    Created by amandla.mobi member Picture
  • Build a school for the children of Marathon and Makause informal settlement
    There are children who live the in Marathon and Makouse informal settlements in Germiston who do not go to school due to the following: Not being able to afford school fees in near by schools. The nearest government school is full Not being able to afford transportation to other government schools There are children between the ages 9-12 who have not been to school in their lives. There is an urgent need to usher these children through the basic education system.
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    Created by Kgalalelo Mpete
  • Support Garden Project versus Playground
    12 Million People go to bed on a hungry stomach every night in our country (http://m.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/?articleId=7906847)
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    Created by Dira-Mintiro Social Coop