Holding power to account
Contributor 
By Glenn Hollands
Wealthy American heir Michael Straight borrowed a bi-plane to fly about 11 000 km to compete in the first South African Grand Prix held in East London (now KuGompo) in 1934.
The aircraft, pictured here at the Woodbrook airfield, was piloted by Michael’s bother Whitney who raced to victory at the iconic race.… Read more
Home Affairs by Onyeka Nwelue
Lethabo Khumalo, a weary Home Affairs official in Pietermaritzburg, is a mother of three who has long carried life alone until a chance encounter draws her into a web of corruption that promises relief from the quiet depression of unpaid bills and leaking roofs.… Read more
By Peter Luhanga
Community leaders in Dunoon have moved to shut down plans by anti-immigrant groups to march through the township, warning that the campaign against foreign nationals risks inflaming tensions and destabilising a fragile local economy.… Read more
By Matthew Hirsch
While successful claimants wait for the government to secure funding to complete the long-awaited redevelopment of District Six, more than 700 further claimants might not live to see their rights restored.… Read more
By Mary-Anne Gontsana/GroundUp
The trial in the Mowbray torture case involving three police officers will only be heard in April next year.
The case has been postponed eight times between 25 July 2024 and 19 September 2025 “at the behest of the defence”, according to the state.… Read more
By Liezl Human/GroundUp
“Alien plants are relentless, but we are relentless as well,” says Raymond Chinembiri, team leader at the Sugarbird Project, an organisation dedicated to removing invasive plants in the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).… Read more
SANParks CEO Hapiloe Sello says resources are being allocated to fight crime on Table Mountain, but she acknowledged that it may not be enough.
Sello was briefing Parliament’s portfolio committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries on Tuesday.… Read more
By Tania Broughton and Mary-Anne Gontsana
The City of Cape Town has paused its plans to significantly cut back on its Dial-a-Ride service for disabled people.
The municipality reached a settlement agreement with the Western Cape Network on Disability on Friday, which was made an order of court by Acting Judge Wallis Roux.… Read more
Music
The Two Oceans Aquarium and Texx and the City continue with After Dark 2025, a stripped-down series of performances throughout winter. The second iteration, on 30 July, includes the band Visitor’s Centre, and singer-songwriter Carla Franco, winner of the 2024 Texx and the City Band or Bust competition.… Read more
Set mostly in the Klein Karoo, beautifully written, atmospheric and irresistibly intriguing, The Fourth Boy explores notions of belonging and a myriad of other longings which I found profoundly moving. It tells the story of a young man’s search for his father against the backdrop of the 80s in apartheid South Africa and the fate of five hundred Polish WWII refugee children who arrived in Oudtshoorn in 1943 – a piece of local history I have been fascinated by for as long as I have lived in South Africa.… Read more