Recently, a distressing report appeared in
The Sunday Times: 32-year-old Russel Makhubela allegedly poisoned his two-year old daughter and then tried to kill himself, because he believed that they should “die together as a family rather than suffer through poverty”. In his desperation, Russel asked his wife: “What’s the use of collecting firewood? We will have nothing to eat tomorrow.”
Access to sufficient food and relief from economic hardships are fundamental rights entrenched in the Constitution, but enjoyment of these rights remains elusive for millions of people who continue to be marginalised both by the economy and by the government’s economic measures. This outcome – of gross economic inequality and minimal redistribution by the state – goes hand in hand with marginalised people’s exclusion from governance processes, including the budget process.
Taking stock of the lockdown in Cape Town. (File Image)
From the health and economic shock, disruptions of essential city services, to increased household vulnerability, the city of Cape Town is taking stock of the effect of the pandemic.
Cape Town is beginning to reckon with the economic impact of the lockdown due to COVID-19, said one city official.
“The massive amount of uncertainty that we had to endure since February or March 2020 not only in terms of health shock but in terms of the impact on our businesses and society, the economic shock, disruptions to essential city services, to increased vulnerability at the household level, disruptions to the systemic elements of the city governance, as well as multiple shocks and stress that were related, indirectly related to the pandemic,” said Craig Kesson, executive director of corporate services .
and GroundUp.
On 2 June 2014, 52-year-old Phindile Ramncwana lay dying at a neighbour’s house in Sada, a rural township in the former Ciskei region of the Eastern Cape. As Esther Kasam tended to him, she recoiled at the sight of blood and vomit in a five-litre container on the floor beside his bed. Ramncwana retched when he tried to eat. He complained of stabbing pains in his stomach, Kasam recalled during a recent interview.
“Phindile, what did you say when they were hitting you?” Kasam had asked.
“I was crying a lot. I asked what I had done to be beaten like this. I begged for forgiveness,” came his response.
This Sunday, the world marks
International Day of Living Together in Peace. The United Nations declared this to fall on 16 May annually to reinvigorate the world’s push for peace. It says:
“The Day aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity and harmony.”
“The Day aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity and harmony.”
(Photo: forsatyab.org/Wikipedia)
On
Tuesday 11 May, the Dullah Omar Institute continues its webinar series on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on South Africa’s metros. This week, the attention is on the City of Cape Town. The City’s executive director of corporate services, Craig Kesson, will unpack how the pandemic has impacted the metro’s revenue and expenditure budgets as well as its relationship with national government. Tune into
PhD graduate highlights human rights issues in her research
By Murphy Nganga
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Cape Town â As the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hosts thousands of its students at the Graduation ceremony, the institution honours the achievements of students in all seven faculties while highlighting some of the University s great stories.
For Nigerian-born Oluwafunmilola Adeniyi, the fulfilment that comes with receiving her PhD today is what sheâs been waiting for her entire life.
Planting her family roots in Cape Town since 2011, Adeniyi is a passionate advocate for social justice.
âI relocated to South Africa 10 years ago and started my Master of Law (LLM) four years after relocation. I graduated in 2016 and started my PhD in 2017.â