STORIES OF PEOPLE & PLACES
A Bhekisisa Centre for health journalism investigation has found that residents are getting sick and struggling to breathe because of the air quality around an illegal dump site in Kya Sand, ...
Charles is a 35 year old man who grew up in Soweto. He attended a local high school, passing matric except for his first language (isiZulu). He did not have any opportunity to study further ...
The Earthly Touch Foundation builds classrooms out of eco-bricks for a local social outreach project in Diepsloot. With a team of experienced designers and builders, Earthly Touch Foundation has ...
In leafy suburbs with regular waste removal, residents are generally happy with the services they are getting. But they are, however, suspicious about the intentions of the different waste ...
Saulsville is a township on the western extremes of the Tshwane metropolitan municipality. It was established under the apartheid government’s Group Areas Act to house Tsonga and Venda-speaking ...
The stories offered here are an expression of how some people in the Karoo have come to think about the connections between rubbish, ill-health and their relationship to the land. It draws on ...
In 2019, the Eastern Cape Karoo was in the midst of a crippling drought — some said the worst they’d ever seen. The Nqwebo dam in Graaff Reinet had gone dry. More than 600 volunteers, young and ...
One of the major needs in getting waste management systems right is the better inclusion and recognition of informal waste reclaimers. The thousands of individuals across the country who are ...
Themba is in his 30s and is a waste reclaimer living in Diepsloot. He travels through the settlement with his wooden cart and large bags, searching the dumpsites for cardboard, paper, plastic ...
When people in the Karoo talked about the problems and politics of their small towns, many talked about garbage, and its removal. Many pointed to the litter on the side of the roads as an ...
In Pearston, a small town between Graaff Reinet and Somerset East where residents live off groundwater, the river is dry but pouring with rubbish. For decades, Pearston’s riverbed has separated ...
Zelda lives in a middle class suburb outside Pretoria. “For those of us who want to separate our waste and put out different bags, the garbage collectors don’t care – they just put everything ...
The Eastern Cape Karoo has been battling drought along with water outages and hikes in the price of municipal water. Because they struggle to access water, both the rich and the poor in the ...
Somerset East is a small town in the Eastern Cape Karoo. Here, as in many other towns around the country, apartheid planning is on full display, with the town centre in the valley, and its ...