The deployment of soldiers to support police battling to quell unprecedented looting and destruction of property in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng can’t succeed without the active support of good people and organisations. Some may question the competency of the country’s law-enforcement officials but they are also in a very difficult position. The last thing South Africa needs right now is another massacre of civilians by law-enforcement officials, which could fuel further instability.

The scenes of violence, looting and vandalism across the country, apparently in response to the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma, needs urgent government action - but not just military and policing action. The South African tinder box of grinding poverty, indignity and desperation, ignited amid a public health pandemic in KwaZulu-Natal last week and now spreading to other provinces, poses the biggest questions asked of the State since the advent of democracy.

As another significant winter storm lashes Cape Town, residents have to navigate unprecedented water hazards due to the municipality allowing its contract for labour-intensive stormwater drain clearing to lapse. The City made its normal noises in March when it announced its Annual Winter Readiness Programme focussing on the clearing of the stormwater systems, particularly in flood prone areas. The annual programme usually includes the cleaning of gullies, catchpits, pipes and ponds, besides clearing stormwater drains.

We welcome the announcement of some relief for businesses such as restaurants and gyms. Restaurants will remain under strain, despite being permitted to serve meals again, as the curfew will severely constrain trading hours. So many people are depending on each one of us to do our bit so that they can try to salvage their businesses and their jobs. It is our duty to each other to adhere to the rules so that the transmission of the virus comes down and so those business sectors that remain shut down can reopen.

Matthew Cook - GOOD Johannesburg 9 July 2021 GOOD would like to offer its condolences to the Makhubo family following the passing of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Geoff Makhubo, who has…

Few countries in the world have endured what South Africans have endured over a long period of time, lasting several decades, and culminating last night in the ultimate test of our very young and hard fought for democracy. Ultimately, the litany of allegations implicating former President Jacob Zuma in wrongdoing, ventilated by a long list of witnesses who’ve appeared at the State Capture Commission, cannot go unanswered.

GOOD notes the decision by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to postpone the Voter Registration Weekend from 17 & 18 July 2021 to 31 July and 01 August 2021. GOOD cautiously welcomes this decision by the nation’s electoral authority provided that this postponement of the Voter Registration does not result in the delay of the 27 October 2021 election date. GOOD Secretary-General, Brett Herron, communicated as much in this afternoon’s meeting of the IEC National Party Liaison Committee.

The FW De Klerk Foundation's statement this week that the NPA stopped prosecuting apartheid-era crimes due to "an informal agreement between the ANC leadership and former operatives of the pre-1994 government" confirms one of South Africa's most disgraceful secrets.

After more than 2 years of sewage discharges in to Cape Town’s Milnerton lagoon, sewage discharges are now being introduced to the RAMSAR wetlands of the False Bay Nature Reserve. This pollution is illegal in terms of national legislation and a contravention of the international RAMSAR wetland agreements. It is also not good for the communities and ecosystems receiving it. GOOD’s National Policy Officer, environmental expert Mark Rountree, has appealed to the National Ministers of Water and Sanitation, Minister Sisulu, and of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs, Minister Creecy, to ask that their departments act to protect the wetlands and watercourses in Cape Town.

The City of Cape Town has reneged on its agreement to collect portable toilets from KTC and Nyanga leaving residents to live with the consequences for the past eight days. In 2013, portaloos – or portapotties, as some residents call them – were introduced as an interim measure to provide services to residents living without sewerage infrastructure. There was significant resistance to this form of sanitation service that led to the infamous pooh-throwing protests at prominent places like the Cape Town International Airport and Western Cape Provincial Parliament.