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unemployed people s movementlatest news & developments
Bleak: Many families, especially in poor areas, such as the rural Eastern Cape, are struggling to pay for funerals for their loved ones. Photos: Paul Botes

Cost of funerals in South Africa a grave concern

With the cost of living rising, many families can’t afford to bury their loved ones and assistance is needed

The Man Upstairs, 2021. (Acrylic ink on paper 67 x 101 cm)

A landscape is politicised through events taking place in: Senzo Shabangu’s ‘ Humble Abode’ exhibition

Senzo Shabangu’s solo exhibition, showing as part of the National Arts Festival, interrogates the contradictions of life in Makhanda

(John McCann/M&G)

The Great Tax(i) Uprising in the Eastern Cape

The unfolding of events at recent protest in Makhanda ended up scoring cheap political points for a select few, while ignoring the real grievances

Dry: In Homu in Giyani, Limpopo, 19-year-old Reason Baloyi has to collect water every day after school from a stand tap in the village. Photo: Oupa Nkosi

The system to save failed councils needs a significant overhaul

Researchers found that interventions only come after the municipality has already collapsed, that the turnaround time is impossibly short, and that constitutional steps have been…

The town of Peddie and surrounding Eastern Cape villages have been without a regular supply of clean water for months, prompting a water strike next to the N2 highway. (Anna Majavu)

Police respond to rural water protests with bullets

The coronavirus has hit the Eastern Cape hard, but many rural areas in the province still have no clean water for hand washing, forcing residents to break lockdown regulations to…

(John McCann/M&G)

The Makhanda disaster cannot be ignored

The municipality turned a deaf ear to residents’ cries — until they united and took it to court

A protest by members the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) outside the Makhanda high court last month, when the case asking for the Makana municipality to be dissolved was being heard. (Graham Pote)

Makana municipal mess up has lessons for local government

Citizen action, where diverse groups work together, offers hope that municipalities can be forced to do their job properly

A protest by members the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) outside the Makhanda high court last month, when the case asking for the Makana municipality to be dissolved was being heard. (Graham Pote)

Court dissolves local municipality

Landmark judgment paves the way for South Africans to use legal system to hold councils responsible