Durban enjoyed a bumper weekend with more than 1,686,174 people visiting various beaches around the City during the long weekend, 23-25 December 2017. According to eThekwini Municipality it was a fun-filled and incident-free weekend with no drownings reported, thanks to a great team of lifesavers, police and municipal workers. In a media release, the Durban […]

It is summer time in the southern hemisphere and locals and tourists are flocking to the coast to enjoy the sunshine, salt air and some of the best beaches this part of the world has to offer. In southern Africa it’s also the time when great white sharks migrate closer to Cape Town’s shore to […]

Afriforum says the ANC’s decision to amend the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land in South Africa without compensation puts South Africa on a road to conflict and is nothing more than a plan to “steal property”, putting South Africa on the Zimbabwe route. The civil rights organisation threatened that it will “not sit back” […]

Talented South African choreographer, dancer, actor and teacher – Lungelo Ngamlana – who grew up in one of Cape Town’s oldest townships, has been choreographing shows around the world. Nan Melville caught up with him in New York… I met Lungelo at New York Tisch Drama School where he, together with fellow South African music-maker, […]

The competition for the top six leadership positions in South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), was no carefully choreographed script such as the one-candidate-per-election of Chinese Communist Party congresses. It was a rip-roaring, full-throated democratic contestation – as raucous as US primary elections. Even more so, with delegates’ repeated singing and dancing. This point […]

Award-winning writer, and Nelson Mandela’s authorised biographer, Charlene Smith was the first journalist to ever interview Cyril Ramaphosa. She thinks it was in 1982 or 1983. Here Charlene recalls some of her memories with the new ANC President over the years… He’d just formed the NUM [National Union of Mineworkers] and the offices were two […]

Drought, protests, anger over the social grants payment system, and the collapse of Metrorail marked this year in South Africa. A man walks through Marikana in Philippi East, on 14 February 2017. A high-profile court case eventually resulted in the City of Cape Town being ordered to buy the land on which Marikana is located. […]

According to South Africa’s opposition parties – the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – nothing has changed with the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC President… and the “corrupt premier league” is still at the centre of the organisation. EFF Commander in Chief Julius Malema tweeted: “Nothing has really changed, the core […]

Team South Africa Roller Derby is heading to the Roller Derby World Cup in Manchester, in the UK, in February, and really needs our help to get there. Their fundraiser on Thundafund ends today – there are some really cool rewards and super cool advertising deals for potential sponsors. Here’s everything you never knew about […]

The South African Revenue Service will collect the Sugary Beverages Levy (SBL) from 1 April 2018. The levy is fixed at 2.1 cents per gram of the sugar content that exceeds four grams per 100ml, which means the first four grams per 100ml are levy free. SARS on Friday said the levy falls under the […]

Few in Cape Town have done more to introduce foodies, chefs, distillers, brewers and tourists to wild food, particularly fynbos – the vast category of indigenous plant life that covers the Cape’s mountains – than forager/cook Roushanna Gray, whose interactive workshops fall under the name Veld and Sea. Roushanna makes foraged food look sexy, with dishes like edible […]

Just after some South African streets – particularly in Pretoria – famously turn purple with Jacaranda petals, there’s a fabulously flamboyant flush of red flowers that are less well known. These are are Delonix regia… known in English as Royal Poinciana trees… or, quite aptly, Flamboyant trees! Fortunately Ria Viljoen in Pretoria and Sheryn Nader in […]

If you want gifts that last, that don’t need batteries and that your kids won’t be able to break on Christmas Day… Oliver’s your man! South Africans have been going crazy over the last week for the Faerie Glen craftsman, ever since Marlene Truscott uploaded a photo of Oliver and his wooden toys. Marlene said: […]

The suspense is tangible as the African National Congress (ANC) – South Africa’s former liberation movement that’s turned into a tired governing party – approaches its fiercely contested 2017 elective conference. By December 5, the party’s branches had largely spoken, and its provincial structures had consolidated the branch delegates’ voting preferences. The lay of the […]

South Africa’s Is Ability Sports Club ended its International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Games in Portugal on top of the medals table! The 17-strong team won 14 gold, seven silver, and nine bronze medals in the Games, held in Vila Real de Santo Antonio. There was also one world record and five […]

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) has put in place measures to secure the 54th African National Congress (ANC) Elective Conference… as the ANC battles it out to decide on its new leadership. Chairs may fly (as happened with the ‘Festival of the Chairs’ at an ANC conference in the Eastern Cape!) at […]

Drowning is a major cause of childhood injury and a top killer of young children in South Africa… as was tragically highlighted this week by the death of 20-month-old Cape Town toddler, Connor Weber, who drowned when he fell into a bin that had been used to collect water during the current drought in the […]

A helicopter pilot and two of his safari guests were incredibly lucky to witness a rare scene of what Helicopter Horizons described as “a lion riding a hippo through the Delta”. Here, chopper pilot Tom Cunningham describes the once-in-a-lifetime sighting… On November 7th I took off in our Robinson R44 helicopter with two guests, Kay and Lisa, […]

The Gauteng Disaster Management team has been tasked with finding alternative accommodation for over 1,000 people, who were left displaced following a major storm in the Midvaal municipality on Monday (which included strong winds that witnesses said was a tornado). “Information compiled by disaster management so far indicates that 565 shacks were damaged with an estimation […]

The Khululabantu Bam centre in Butterworth brings into focus the huge gap between the demand and supply for decent mental health care facilities in South Africa. In November we visited the facility. It was run in an abandoned warehouse next to a railway line. The warehouse had no windows and was divided into two rooms […]

The Knysna community has been rallying behind talented musician – Xolane Marman – to ensure he can fly to Germany to undertake a prestigious opera training programme. And this week he will be giving two unmissable benefit concerts to raise further funds. Recognising his talent and potential, Xolane was chosen from numerous gifted international students to […]

A year ago – in November 2016 – Tshwane mayor, Solly Msimanga was a hero for cleaning up corruption in the city, and helping clean up trash in Pretoria’s CBD (which had been left by protesters). But yesterday AfriForum accused the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality of trying to implement a waste removal levy that they say […]

Cape Town is experiencing its worst drought ever and Day Zero is looming (when taps will be turned off and residents will have to queue for water). As the beautiful Mother City starts to welcome local and international tourists to its shores for the festive season, there are some concerns that visitors are not aware […]

Professor of Science, Tebello Nyokong, is a legend. This week she became the first recipient of the Black Science, Technology & Engineering Professionals (BSTEP) Excellence Award. She was identified as a legend and honoured in the first ever Black Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) awards at the CSIR International Convention Centre. Prof Nyokong’s many accomplishments […]

South African musician Don Clarke has released one of the most politically incorrect Christmas carol videos you’ll ever watch! Don told SAPeople, it’s “an amusingly accurate version of Jingle Bells for the current South Africa this season… 🙂 SHARE FAR AND WIDE!” The video introduces Don’s new artist Rosie Doring. “That’s Rosie with the Afrikaans […]