by Achal Prabhala

“You know what Hillbrow and Yeoville are like,” says a resident of Katlehong, glibly summarising the moral character of an inner-city he must have visited about twice in the last decade; “Full of criminals.” But naturally: mainstream Jo’burg circles – the Melville café, the Soweto shebeen – have turned both names into abuses, conjoining them to a list of African cities similarly revered. So Time Square is apparently in Kinshasa; and Ponte Tower – rumoured host of the Miss Transvestite Africa Contest circa 1996 – is Little Lagos, with garbage piled up to the seventh floor in its central hollow. (The standing joke with Ponte is that the authorities wanted to turn it into a prison, when someone suggested that all they would have to do is lock the gates.)

by Andie Miller

It is a Saturday afternoon, threatening rain, and I’m glad of the excuse of my raincoat covering my bag as I head up Cavendish Street to meet with Bienvenue. It’s been a long time since I’ve ventured this far into Yeoville, and I’m now in unfamiliar territory. As I walk the fifteen blocks from Louis Botha Avenue, across Rockey Street, I enter another world.

I’m struck immediately by how many people are out in the streets, going about their weekends; many, as in any other suburb, getting their hair done. There is no shortage of hair salons in these parts (plus a few saloons, and a saloona). Even on the Sabbath, in my predominantly Jewish neighbourhood ten minutes away by minibus taxi, there were relatively few people out on foot.

South Africa’s Constitution provides many rights for all in South Africa but many people in the country don't know the rights to which they are entitled and therefore don't have the knowledge of how they can protect their rights and empower themselves. Take a look at this fabulous new guide and resource.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) have just released an extraordinary resource: a beautifully designed and user friendly, up-to-date survival guide for South Africa's refugee community.