A photo of Thabo Bester, officially dead in a prison fire, shopping in Sandton became the story of the year
18 December 2023
Springbok rugby captain Siya Kolisi takes a selfie with fans outside the City Hall in Cape Town. The Springboks toured the country to celebrate their World Cup win. Photo: Matthew Hirsch
Protesting residents of Govan Mbeki village in Gqeberha emptied buckets of excrement on Uitenhage Road after toilets in the village had not been cleaned for weeks. The photograph was taken by former GroundUp staff reporter Mkhuseli Sizani, who died in September. Photo: Mkhuseli Sizani
Tyelinzima High School, made of prefabricated classrooms, in Coffee Bay in the Eastern Cape was completely swept away by flooding. Eight people died in the floods and thousands were stranded. Photo: Mkhuseli Sizani
A sand mining company operating in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, suspended its operations after shack dwellers complained that their homes were being filled with sand. Photo: Vincent Lali
Families in Citrusdal were left stranded after flooding washed away roads. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Families fled a fire in Dunoon, Cape Town, which left 200 people homeless. Photo: Peter Luhanga
The Silver Sounds Band, a minstrel band made up of 70 musicians practise inside a panel beating shop on weekends in Athlone, Cape Town. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks.
A child was injured after a vehicle was stoned in Crossroads, Cape Town, during a taxi strike in Cape Town. The taxi strike, which started after the municipality impounded vehicles, created food shortages across the city and five people were murdered. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Wild flowers bloom on the R382 in the Northern Cape during the famous Namaqualand flower season in spring. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
73 people died after a fire broke out in a building in the centr
e of Johannesburg. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
Elzaan Debruyn carries her dog Cocoa through water in Sandvlei in Cape Town after a devastating storm. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Several thousand households have moved onto the train line between Nyanga and Philippi. Photo: Sandiso Phaliso
Tens of thousands of people march through Cape Town city centre calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The protest came a month after armed militias from Hamas entered Israel and killed about 1,200 people. In response, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, killing at least 17,000 people. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
People lay flowers and candles outside Parliament in Cape Town at a memorial shrine for Roshdi Sarraj, a Palestinian journalist killed during the war in Gaza. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), over 60 journalists and media workers have been killed during the war. Photo: Matthew Hirsch
Thabo Bester is seen at Woolworths in Sandton, Johannesburg. At the time, Bester, known as the Facebook rapist, was officially dead, but in fact, he had escaped prison. He and his accomplice Nandipha Magudumana were later arrested in Tanzania. The story resulted in GroundUp reporters Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn winning the Nat Nakasa and Vodacom journalist of the year awards. Photo supplied
