Creator
Dennis Webster
Dennis Webster has a research background in labour, land and housing. He writes about cities, farmwork and popular politics in rural areas.
Heat from a changing climate poses a significant risk to mothers and babies
It is crucial to pay attention to the effects of a warming world on mothers and babies because it stands to affect them the most
Rights group Seri closes over online threats after it prevented the eviction of street traders
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute alleges the threats came after public statements by ActionSA city councillor Nkululeko Mbundu
The Rea Vaya dream hobbles on
In its latest guarantee, Johannesburg’s transport department says that the next leg of the city’s public bus system will be operational by September
Tuberculosis: South Africa’s forgotten killer
Sidelined during the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s deadliest disease has been working under cover
When the city of gold bled red
In 1922, Johannesburg’s white workers united on a scale not seen before or since, unleashing violence against Black miners and destroying their potential to become an organised…
The limits of a Wanderers without a crowd
Watching the second Test match between South Africa and India from inside the hallowed environs of the Bull Ring was a discomfiting cricketing experience that will hopefully…
Gauteng health system is heading for catastrophe
While officials remain entangled in bureaucratic knots, clinicians warn that the continued closure of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital risks a ‘humanitarian…
Dolomite hinders residential development in Gauteng
Gold made Johannesburg. Today, a lesser-known mineral shapes the lives of some of the city’s impoverished residents
Ruling deals crushing blow to zero-hours contracts
Ferrero factory workers have won the first battle in what might become one of South Africa’s next wars on casual and precarious work
Xolobeni activist receives death threat
In an environment where activism against mining is becoming increasingly deadly, Nonhle Mbuthuma’s life may be at risk
Covid-19 exacerbates old electricity struggle
The coronavirus lockdown has added new dimensions to a decades-long struggle for electricity in the far west of Soweto, where residents have challenged the situation fiercely in…
Relocation rears its head: Bringing de-densification home in Alexandra
About 1 600 families in the Stjwetla shack settlement in Alexandra, Johannesburg are standing on the verge of seismic change. This is one of their stories
Early-morning exercise: Jo’burg’s three golden hours
Under level four of the Covid-19 lockdown, the hours from 6am to 9am became the time when inner-city residents could use local parks to escape the nightmare around them
What happened to the Covid-19 special grant?
The newly established grant intended to bring informal economy workers into South Africa’s social security net during the lockdown has had a disastrous start
Not all of Jo’burg’s street traders can sell their wares under lockdown
Street traders are central to food security in Johannesburg. But since being declared an essential service under lockdown, street trade in South Africa’s biggest city has…