All posts by Sarah Wild

Sarah Wild is a multi-award-winning science journalist. She has worked as science editor at Business Day and the Mail & Guardian, and has published two books on African science. Wild contributes to AfricaCheck, Nature, the Guardian, City Press, the Financial Mail, Research Africa, Business Day, Undark Magazine, ITWeb, and Independent Newspaper titles, Mail & Guardian, among others.

South Africa’s Forgotten Dead

Every year, thousands of people are murdered in South Africa, at a rate that has been steadily increasing over the past three years. On average, some 50 people a day fall victim to violence at the hands of those motivated by rage, opportunity, or some dark compulsion it is difficult for others to imagine. In this three part series of investigative journalism, Sarah Wild explores how forensic scientists work to try and identify people from the most vulnerable groups, including women, children, and particularly illegal immigrants, many of whom “come down into South Africa, and they die in a field and no one is looking”, according to one forensic scientist. She then explore how they eventually get buried. Read more [...]