Long Form

Long Form Journalism by the Bhekisisa Team

Helping hands: Zethu Mqopi* and her daughter Sisanda*. Zethu has learnt to carry out household chores

[From our archives] ‘If they are raped, then so what?’

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Mentally disabled people in the rural Eastern Cape are considered worthless, even evil. When girls are sexually abused, mothers are no longer shocked.
Soured celebration: Photographs of Winnie Makalateng's grandson brings back memories of her daughter

Mothers haunted by hospital hell

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Our children’s lives were lost due to the negligence of the Mpumalanga health system, say grieving mothers.
Overwhelmed: Many teens who have babies don't finish school

Stuck in a destructive cycle of poverty and teen pregnancy

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To understand Mpumalanga's teen pregnancies, look closely at the much older men calling the shots.
The youngsters have successfully completed their initiation and are now regarded as men. The campsite where the initiates stayed is burnt after the initiation is completed.

The boys who lost their manhood

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During this initiation season, we look back at what happened in 2013 when bungled initiations cost boys their penises.
Unprescribed: Students are using the drug Ritalin to stay focused for exams.

‘Smart drugs’ rife at universities

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Students are abusing schedule six pills ahead of exams – with the help of their doctors.

Rural hospitals in terminal crisis

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Accessing healthcare in this rural town has never been easy. Shortages of staff as well as medical equipment makes it difficult for this hospital to function.

A doctor born of hope

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This man from rural Eastern Cape had to travel all the way to Cuba to make his dream of becoming a doctor come true. Now, he is back home and treating patients at the same hospital his mother used to sell fruit in front of when he was a boy.
Shattered dreams: A tradition called ukuthwala sees girls as young as 13 years forced into marriages with older men.

Is today’s ukuthwala a perversion of an earlier tradition?

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The kidnapping of young girls ignores the 'niceties' of a cultural practice.
Nongezile Sinkala walked 7km across hilly terrain and thick bush to get to the nearest taxi rank to take her sick grandson to the hospital.

‘God make us strong, I beg you, keep Luphumlo alive’

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Mia Malan describes the arduous trek an Eastern Cape woman had to undertake to get medical attention for her sick grandson.
A pack-a-day smoking habit during pregnancy will reduce a baby's birth weight by an average of 230g

‘I saw the world through the blurry lens of an oxygen tent’

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With the severe effects of the habit on the unborn child now widely known, why do pregnant mothers refuse to give up?
An eighth-grade teenager shows how funky and strong her fight against a four-letter word is.

Bianca learns to Beat It

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An eighth-grade teenager shows how funky and strong her fight against a four-letter word is. Mia Malan reports.