Rumana Akoob

When we thought premier of the Western Cape and professional troll Helen Zille had said it all, this morning she questioned the families of the Life Esidimeni victims. It is good that the families of the Life Esidimeni victims have received a measure of justice and compensation. I would like an answer to this question: What did they do, before these tragic deaths, to raise the alarm about their loved ones starving + living in profound neglect? — Helen Zille (@helenzille) March 20, 2018 We know this was not the first of her…

Family members of the Life Esidimeni victims will receive R1.2 million in equitable financial compensation, the Arbitration led by former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke announced on Monday. The R1.2 million will cover funeral costs (set at R20 000), compensation for shock and psychological trauma (R180 000), and R1 million for the government’s multiple constitutional and legislation violations in the unfolding of the tragedy. This amount, Moseneke said, must be paid within three months of the publication of the report…

Marievale residents have yet again been barred from returning to their homes despite a court ruling by the High Court in Johannesburg stating they should be allowed to into the disused base, where many of them had lived for many years. In November last year, soldiers illegally evicted around 600 people from the Marievale base. Since then, the SANDF has failed to comply with an urgent interdict granted to the residents by Judge Daniel Berger in December. In February this year, Judge Edwin Molahlehi instructed the state to…

The listeriosis outbreak in South Africa has taken the lives of 180 people so far and a further 948 have fallen ill. Last week, the department of health announced that it had traced the source of the outbreak, which is ready-to-eat, processed meat such as French polony made by Enterprise Foods, and urged people to destroy any of the product they'd bought. But this is not the only reason not to eat processed meats. The Daily Vox visited a Johannesburg butchery to discover how polony is made, and the process is unsettling, to…

A new Unicef report reveals a horrifying statistic: in lower-income countries, 27 newborns out of every 1 000 die before they are four weeks old. In developed countries, that figure is 3.3 in 1 000. “While we have more than halved the number of deaths among children under the age of five in the last quarter century, we have not made similar progress in ending deaths among children less than one month old,” said Henrietta Fore, Unicef’s executive director. “Given that the majority of these deaths are preventable, clearly, we…

Cyril Ramaphosa’s first cabinet reshuffle has been criticised for its lack of diversity and the inclusion of failed cabinet ministers. We spoke to Tasneem Essop, a political researcher at Wits University’s Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP), about the reshuffle and what it means for the ANC pre-2019 elections. The decision to retain certain members of the cabinet, like Bathabile Dlamini who was the minister for social development when the social grants crisis happened, was an attempt to balance the need for…

The Daily Vox caught up with alternative rock band Incubus’s bassist Ben Kenney about an hour before their maiden performance in South Africa on Saturday, 24 February. We asked him about the importance of black children having black musicians as role models, Black Lives Matter, the Trump presidency, and his own personal attitude towards pirating their music. Incubus is a world-famous alternative rock band from California, USA that has been performing around the world for nearly three decades. They have sold over 23 million…

A number of articles have been written by Zionists telling Capetonians they would have water had they taken help from Israel. An editorial in the Jerusalem Post earlier this week says South Africa is in no position to refuse help from Israel. Why? According to them, Israel is the “world leader in desalination, water recycling, water preservation and irrigation".  This is not true. If Israelis have sufficient water, it's only because they deny water rights to Palestine. The control or destruction of Palestinian water supplies…

The People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime in South Africa took place at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg this past week. Social activist and lecturer Khaya Sithole presented to the Tribunal on Tuesday on white collar crimes and state capture. The People's Tribunal ran from 3 - 7 February and addressed crimes of corruption and theft. The organisers included Right2Know, Open Secrets, Foundation for Human Rights, Corruption Watch and the Public Affairs Research Institute. The Tribunal looked at pre and post apartheid corruption…

Navigating the world as a visibly queer person is not easy when many violences are faced by them. On Friday, Desire Marea of the queer gqom duo FAKA was harassed by airport security and literally laughed by airport personal at OR Tambo International Airport. Speaking to The Daily Vox, Marea said they were making they way through security they the first incident happened when “a group of women who very loudly made remarks about my hair, in front of me as if I was not there”. The next incident took place when Marea’s hand…

The once self reliant people of the Marievale community now wait on the state to prevent the military from terrorising them, and their return to their homes. Marievale is an area outside Nigel (about an hour’s drive east of Johannesburg) which used to house around 600 people on a disused military base. In November last year, all those people were thrown out their homes in a manner the community describes as “by the barrel of the gun”. The community took the state to court and an urgent interdict was granted which prevented,…

There has been a call for the banning of genital mutilation of intersex children but this can only be done if there is legislation put in place to protect the rights of these children. This call was made at the annual National Intersex Meeting late last year. The government seem like they are willing to listen but no plans have been set in motion yet. The definition of sex is different from gender. Gender is what a person chooses to identify as and sex is the description of sexual organ you are born with. Intersex people are…

Marievale residents will be back in court later this week after the High Court heard and heard an application to interdict evictions from a disused military base, just outside of Johannesburg. On Monday afternoon, Judge Molahlehi extended an interdict against the evictions which are being carried out by the army on communities living on a disused South African National Defence Force (SANDF) military base in Marievale, near Springs in eastern Gauteng.  He said he would rule on the matter by the end of the week to either stop…

Selfies have fast become the preferred method of taking self portraits. Unfortunately our parents haven’t gotten with it. When you log onto Facebook, you’re harassed by unflattering (and memeable) pictures of your aunts and uncles. These selfies are taken with clearly no thought put into them - and this is an injustice. The Daily Vox put together a quick guide on how to take selfies. 1. Know your angles Video Camera - Mr. Bean GIF from Mrbean GIFs This firstly relates to the way in which you position your face. Do you want…

The Marievale community have been terrorised by SANDF soldiers since they were evicted from their homes in November last year. Now they are being prevented from building shacks and some have been broken down by the SANDF. They were barred from entering their homes in November on the disused military base when soldiers entered their homes and forced them out. The community took them to court where an urgent interdict was granted preventing the evictions yet the soilder’s still have their member’s at entrances preventing…

Poverty, inequality and the lack of access to land are issues that drive the continued malnutrition of women in South Africa, especially since women tend to put their families needs before their own. According to the General Household Survey of 2012, 25% of women-headed households cut meal portions and skip meals while 8% less of male-headed households do the same. 21% of women-headed households are likely to have insufficient food, which is more common than in male-headed households, only 15.8% of them are at risk. In an…

The first Queer Feminist Film Festival will happen in Khayelitsha over weekend of 19 to 20 January, aiming to create an inclusive space to celebrate queer people and feminists. The Daily Vox interviewed one of the organisers on the inspiration and challenges of creating this new space. Speaking to The Daily Vox, Mase Ramaru, one of the festival organisers, said that the QFFF is aiming to bring together people in conversation around queer and feminist activism to honour and reflect on what the movements have looked like in…

The second week of January has seen many students across the country entering universities and registering for the first time. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has already received over 300 000 applications for first-year students for the 2018 academic year, after applications ran from 1 August till 30 November 2017. After the announcement of free higher education for first-year students, there has been a lot of confusion regarding the NSFAS process, so The Daily Vox is breaking it down Who qualifies for…

The EFF Student Command (EFFSC) met with the department of higher education and training (DHET) on Monday, and released a statement which made several claims about what had been agreed to, ahead of the 2018 academic year. However, the meeting went differently, according to the department. The EFFSC claimed that it managed to get the DHET to agree on several demands, including the scrapping of historic debt, the re-admission of financially-excluded students, and the complete scrapping of pre-enrollment fees. When asked about…

South African students are going back to university in the coming weeks and registration is currently underway. Fees have not yet fallen and many students still have to pay registration fees. In case you aren’t sure about initial fees, we compiled a list to make it easier for you. Tshwane University of Technology TUT applicants need an upfront payment of R1 500 during registration which happens during January and February and again in July for semester students. University of Free State Non-residential students have to make…