Thapelo Tshabalala, author and co-founder of Tshwane Disability Empowerment Projects, knows what it is like to feel excluded because of a disability. Growing up, Tshabalala struggled to read and write and says he was repeatedly told by teachers and family…
At 58, Tankiso Khamadi continues to collect recyclable waste at the Nyakallong landfill in the Free State despite struggling with respiratory problems and being treated for tuberculosis (TB) last year. Khamadi is among a group of mostly older reclaimers who…
Dorothy Khomo from Duduza township, near Springs on Gauteng’s East Rand, had just returned from church and was eating with her family when she felt a chicken bone lodge in her throat. Her sister suggested eating brown bread to push…
Residents of Mafefe village in Limpopo are being screened for asbestos-related illnesses as government moves to address contamination from abandoned mines that closed more than 30 years ago. The intervention follows the death of 48-year-old Mampuru Thobejane, whose father, Chief…
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is investigating a case after a five-year-old Grade R learner was injured at a Tshwane primary school and later required surgery. Katlego Setshedi was injured while playing on a metal swing at Nchuncheko Primary…
Health and nutrition experts say the health consequences of South Africa’s food insecurity crisis can begin long before someone becomes sick enough to need hospital treatment. The scale of the crisis came under renewed scrutiny when the South African Human…
Traditional healers say patients they refer to public clinics can fall through the cracks because the two health systems don’t communicate effectively. Nozuko Nkunzi, a traditional health practitioner from Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, says South Africa’s plans to integrate…
Informal gold miners working around old mine dumps between Nyakallong and Allanridge in the Free State say they risk exposure to mine dust, mercury and other chemicals while trying to earn enough money to support their families. At 48, Thabo*…
Two families in Nyakallong, Free State, are mourning the deaths of two young boys who drowned in a mine dam near Harmony Gold’s Target 2 Rock Dump in Allanridge. Thabo Diloko, 9, and Lethabo Abrahams, 8, died after four boys…
When the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) transgender clinic where Kamogelo Moamogoe received her hormone treatment closed last year following cuts to US funding, she says she was given a prescription to buy her hormones herself, but…
Sewage is still spilling into the yards of residents in Nyakallong in the Free State despite a High Court ruling against the municipality, intervention by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the municipality being placed under administration. Residents…
More than 10 intersex adults have approached a South African support organisation since 2020 saying they underwent surgery or other irreversible medical interventions as children without their or their parents’ informed consent. One of them is 33-year old Lerato Sikhosana…
25-year old Tiisetso Lekgetho experiences painful periods with heavy bleeding that keeps her home two or three days a month, unable to look for work or go about her normal life. Lekgetho, from Tsetse village outside Mahikeng in the North…
Parents in Musina, Limpopo, say drug addiction is taking a toll on families, leaving some afraid in their own homes and struggling to get help for their children. Their concerns come after the Hawks uncovered a suspected crystal methamphetamine manufacturing…
Nine years ago, Health-e News met Matthew Legemaate while he was waiting for a heart and double-lung transplant. Legemaate, who lives with his parents in Gillitts in KwaZulu-Natal, was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot and…
