Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Essential Workers

latest news & developments
Informal waste pickers are responsible for processing more than 80% of South Africa’s recycled materials, which is an extraordinary contribution to the economy and environment. Photo: Mark Lewis
AFRICAN RECLAIMERS ORGANISATION

Waste pickers should be seen as essential workers

Come rain or sun, waste pickers push their trolleys full of recycled material. But despite providing an environmental service they are not treated as the public-service workers…

  • Musawenkosi Cabe
8 min read
Gogo Simanjelo Stewart consulting from her home. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Traditional healers zoom in on new ways of practice

Despite being largely sidelined, these essential workers have adapted to lockdowns, taken to technology and even attracted clients from abroad

  • Elna Schütz
9 min read
ARISA

Freedom of expression is a crucial factor in managing the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on journalists’ health, working conditions and freedom to report. Now more than ever, media freedom needs to be upheld

  • Teldah Mawarire
7 min read
The National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) &; South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) demonstrated outside Tygerberg Hospital on Tuesday morning demanding that management ensure safer working conditions after almost 140 healthcre workers have been affected by COVID-19. Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, Western Cape. (David Harrison)
BELVILLE

Nurses work and care in fear of Covid

Staff at Tygerberg hospital detail how, despite their fear of the coronavirus, they continue to help in the medical response to the pandemic

  • Lester Kiewit
5 min read
Written and published under 50 days, the Corona Chronicles feature the work of more than 40 contributors. (Melinda Books)
ESSENTIAL WORKERS

Writers on lockdown

Melinda Ferguson has gathered essays and stories from 40-plus contributors for Corona Chronicles

  • Zaza Hlalethwa
3 min read
Infected: Workers at private and state hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal have contracted Covid-19. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
CORONAVIRUS SOUTH AFRICA

Staff at eight KZN hospitals contract coronavirus

Forced to work across multiple hospitals, health officials have helped to spread Covid-19 in the private healthcare system

  • Paddy Harper
3 min read
The consumer price index decreased by 0.1% month-on-month in August, after increasing by 0.9% in July.
CAPE TOWN

Pick n Pay workers lose their jobs for ‘striking’ during the lockdown

A group of workers have been dismissed, but they insist they never embarked on industrial action in the first place

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
The real test for South Africa is not if the lockdown will help slow down the pandemic. Instead, lurking within and throughout this lockdown is a battle for the future of South Africa’s democracy. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ANDISWA JIKIJELA

Who takes care of essential workers?

The M&G will continue to examine how people are coping and give ideas of what people are doing to help themselves and each other.

  • Bongekile Macupe
3 min read