The Covid pandemic nearly undid years of effort by Philippi entrepreneurs Siphamadla Mavumengwana and Siphumeze Ramncwana. For two years, their fast-food business was closed and their staff laid off. But the pair have bounced back and in spite of daily struggles with crime, Estratweni Mobile Foods is thriving. Entrepreneurs Siphamadla Mavumengwana and Siphumeze Ramncwana started […]

While South Africa faces a deepening literacy crisis, teachers in Makhanda are battling in overcrowded classrooms. They need more teachers. They need more funds. Learners need one-on-one support. Last week Viewfinder and GroundUp revealed that the Department of Basic Education has failed to implement its National Reading Plan. The country’s literacy crisis is acute: the vast majority […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa, through his weekly newsletter to the nation, has reiterated South Africa’s stance that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine must be resolved through negotiation and peaceful means. This is after the US Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, said that South Africa supplied weapons to Russia after a Russian vessel, known as […]

Social scientists have shown how freedom in South Africa has lost its meaning for many in the country. Despondency about democracy is on the rise as the promise of prosperity under a caring government continues to ring hollow for many, thanks to poor governance, corruption and incompetence. Nicky Falkof is a media studies professor who […]

Lisa Peché, a devoted mother from Fourways, Johannesburg, is seeking support to fund her daughter Madison’s trip to Malta for the International Invitational gymnastics competition. Madison, a gifted young gymnast, has been training since she was five years old to fulfil her dream of competing on the world stage. She has already secured over 20 […]

Bail hearings for five of the eight accused in the Thabo Bester saga continued for a second day on Friday. Police officer Tieho Jobo Flyman testified how a decoy body was smuggled into the Mangaung prison and how money changed hands before and after the escape. The police’s investigating officer Tieho Flyman gave evidence of […]

Eskom is expected to alternate load shedding between Stages 4 and 6 for the rest of this week. Stage 4 will be implemented between 5 am and 4 pm followed by Stage 6 between 4 pm and 5 am every day. The State power utility said although a generating unit at Kriel Power Station was […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa will this week host Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of the Republic of Singapore for an Official Visit to Cape Town. Tuesday’s visit will be an opportunity for the two countries to strengthen their longstanding partnership and explore new areas of bilateral economic cooperation. Singapore is a significant investor in South Africa, […]

Research shows that the world is undoubtedly warming. And, as the global average temperature keeps rising, heat waves are increasing in their frequency, duration and intensity for most of the world’s regions. But that doesn’t mean cold weather will disappear entirely. While annual extreme cold events are becoming less frequent and less intense, as you’d […]

Sick and elderly people say they wait for hours in the cold and rain outside the Nyanga Community Day Clinic just to make an appointment to see a doctor. Some patients also complain that the clinic has been running out of stock of chronic medication. Elderly people have been complaining about poor services at the […]

Relations between the People’s Republic of China and Russia on one hand and the west, specifically the US, on the other have become increasingly tense in recent times. For the US, China and Russia represent authoritarian regimes. For China, the US is the source of global insecurity. With a few exceptions like France and the […]

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says it has recorded an unexpected, sudden increase in mumps, which constitutes an outbreak. According to the public health institute, mumps is an acute viral infection caused by the rubulavirus, also known as the mumps virus. “It is sometimes called ‘infectious parotitis’, as it causes painful swelling of […]

International Nurses Day is celebrated annually on 12 May in memory of the birth of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale. On International Day of the Nurse, we celebrate these heroes who put their own health and well-being on the line to care for their communities. Nurses in the City of Cape Town’s Health Department boast […]

Six years since a contractor was paid to build prefab classrooms, learners at Kulo-Mbombo Primary School in Qombolo, Eastern Cape, are still being taught in crumbling mud buildings. Broken windows and collapsing walls have primary school children shivering through classes. There are no answers from the Eastern Cape Department of Education, despite appointing a contractor […]

Journalists Sam Sole, Micah Reddy and Dewald van Rensburg, of the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism believe they are under threat of arrest because of an exposé they wrote implicating businessman Zunaid Moti in a mining deal with Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Their attorney Stephen May says in letters to senior South African Police Service […]

Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) and nine families have launched a class action against the South African Police Service, seeking to recover damages for those killed and injured in shootings involving about 2,000 guns stolen by two police officers and supplied to gang leaders on the Cape Flats. A class action against the police has […]

A “massive reading campaign” for South African schools announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019 has never got off the ground, despite triumphant claims in Parliament by the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Viewfinder and GroundUp can reveal that the Department’s National Reading Plan – which it had not made publicly available – is a […]

Attendees at Africa’s Travel Indaba, currently underway at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC complex, have expressed optimism that the annual travel show will boost their businesses. The travel extravaganza, which started on Tuesday and ends on Thursday, has attracted thousands of international and local exhibitors. One such exhibitor, who spoke highly of the Indaba, was […]

The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) has moved to assure South Africans that all terms written in Xitsonga on the new banknotes are accurate and correct. This comes after reports of a spelling error in the translation of the words ‘Reserve Bank’ into Xitsonga. PanSALB rebutted those reports and said the words were verified […]

Universities had to deal with many anxieties and uncertainties during the early days of the COVID pandemic. One of these was how to move all of their teaching online. For some, the process was fairly simple as they had already been offering blended online and in-person lessons. But many were caught on the wrong foot. […]

Larry Soffer, the leading mentalist in Africa, believes that anyone can turn their hobbies, interests, and side hustles into successful careers, given the right mindset and approach. Larry’s philosophy is simple: what you put out into the world, directly reflects what you get back. He strongly believes that if you do something that brings joy […]

Priscilla Tumira from Zimbabwe thinks she is eight months pregnant, but she has not had any prenatal health care. Without valid documents, Tumira says, staff at Jeppe and Hillbrow Clinics in Johannesburg refused her registration for prenatal care. Pregnant women who are immigrants are being turned away from some clinics in Gauteng, in spite of […]

Cracked walls, leaking ceilings, no ventilation and spreading mould are a few of the problems facing families living at the N2 Gateway social housing flats in Langa. Tenants of the N2 Gateway Project flats in Langa say their homes were shoddily built, and have leaks, mould, pools of sewage and rats. The City of Cape […]

Hundreds of protesters from four Limpopo villages closed two main roads on Tuesday demanding that the road from Musina to Thohoyandou be tarred. The protesters, from Tshikhudini, Folovhodwe, Tanda and Tshisimani villages, closed the R525 connecting Musina to Masisi and the D3675 connecting Musina to Thohoyandou. They want the provincial Department of Public Works, Roads […]

Winter is an important season for South African agriculture, with some of its key field crops being produced during the cold months of June, July and August, and maturing after that, with harvesting in December. Preparation of the land for winter crops begins in April, which is also the same time harvesting of the summer […]