Farmers hobbled by high input costs
Surika Van SchalkwykFood prices are expected to rise rapidly in the next year because farmers are planting less as input costs escalate.
Conditions remain dire in xenophobia camps
Surika Van SchalkwykMore than a month after xenophobic attacks shook Gauteng, feelings of desperation worsen among thousands of foreigners housed at temporary shelters.
The nation's unsung heroes
Surika Van SchalkwykGrandmothers are often left to raise unwanted kids. Surika van Schalkwyk looks at the struggles they face.
'I saw my friend being killed in front of me'
Surika Van Schalkwyk"Regina Chinyandi (21), of Zimbabwe, arrived at the Alexandra police station on Monday with her one-day-old baby, Prince, wrapped in a napkin. Upon her return home from the hospital after giving birth, she had found her shack in ruins and all her friends from the township missing." Surika van Schalkwyk speaks to refugees at Gauteng police stations.
Eskom behind 'diesel use soaring'
Surika Van SchalkwykDiesel use in South Africa, driven by home generators and the trucking of coal to Eskom power stations
'Shelters', not camps, for foreigners
Surika Van SchalkwykThe Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday it planned to establish shelters for foreigners who have fled xenophobic attacks over the last two weeks. The BBC reported on Wednesday that seven "refugee camps" would be set up. By Monday night there were an estimated 17Â 000 displaced foreigners left in Johannesburg.
Tiger launches new biodegradable plastic
Surika Van SchalkwykBut not everyone is impressed with this eco-friendly gesture, writes Surika van Schalkwyk.
Cold comfort for displaced foreigners
Surika Van SchalkwykIt's freezing cold under a grey sky. Discarded pictures from a child's colouring book swirl in the wind. A whistle blows and hundreds of people camping at the Jeppe police station scramble to form an unruly queue in front of huge, silver cooking pots. Supper is served; today it's soup.
Increase in abandoned babies
Surika Van SchalkwykWelfare workers are picking up an alarming increase in the number of abandoned babies, seeing in it the effects of growing economic distress -- and particularly rocketing food prices. Johannesburg Child Welfare Services, an NGO, says at least 19 babies were abandoned in Johannesburg in May alone.
Throwing convention out the box
Surika Van SchalkwykThe Out of the Box Environmental Education Programme has learners and teachers across the country literally thinking outside the box.
