Penny Heyns did not know she had just made history. Standing on the podium at the Atlanta Olympic Games with the gold medal around her neck she was oblivious to the fact that she had won South Africa’s first Olympic gold medal in 44 years. It was 23 July 1996; Heyns had already broken the […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah has announced today that he will be returning to Australia and New Zealand in 2014, much to the delight of many expats who have been begging him to head back after his previous sold-out shows. The South African comedian, who has been embraced by foreigners abroad as well South Africans everywhere, has […]

One of South Africa’s toughest endurance races is the Berg River Canoe Marathon, which starts in mid-July. It’s tough because paddlers sit in their boats for some 60 gruelling kilometres each day of the four-day race, paddling in the middle of winter in a river that is at times blocked by trees and requires paddlers […]

South African playwright Athol Fugard, the creator of anti-apartheid masterpieces such as Blood Knot, The Island and Master Harold … and the Boys, has been named as the first African recipient of a Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award, Japan’s highest honour in the arts. The five winners of the 2014 awards – Fugard in the […]

There is a common misconception that feminists are hysterical, man-hating women who burn their bras. But the reality is far different; in fact, one of the world’s greatest leaders, Nelson Mandela, was a passionate feminist. He believed fervently in the ideology’s core commitment to the social, economic and political equality of women. When Mandela became […]

It is an extraordinary dream come true. Like music to Mandla Maseko’s ears, this part-time DJ will blast off into space, literally. No-one in Maseko’s family has ever stepped outside South Africa, but now the 25-year-old is preparing to rocket into space in 2015. Maseko won the global Axe Apollo Space Academy competition for an […]

TRIBUTE FROM SAPEOPLE: “I happened to be thinking of Nadine Gordimer on the day she passed away. I was sitting in a movie theater in London, watching ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ in which teenage cancer victim Hazel is on a quest to find out from the author of her favourite book what became of the […]

Everyone has a memory bank of images: Nelson Mandela, fist clenched, walking to freedom from Victor Verster Prison; the limp and lifeless body of Hector Pieterson being carried by a fellow pupil; the queues of South Africans waiting to vote in 1994. For sports mad South Africans there is the picture of Mandela handing the […]

Three South African brothers are involved in a really cool venture with a group of young Swiss entrepreneurs who have created a really cool video showcasing just how their African Handmade Shoes are made (with soul!)…and how awesome South Africa and South Africans are. The aim of African Handmade Shoes is to create a bridge between Africa and […]

English has been spoken in South Africa for over 200 years, evolving into a distinct dialect with a vocabulary strongly influenced by indigenous languages. Learn to understand the locals with our comprehensive guide to Mzanzi taal.   English has been spoken in South Africa for over 200 years, at least since the British seized the […]

  Cold Harbour, the new South African crime thriller from the producers of Jerusalema, will have its world première at the Durban International Film Festival on 19 July before opening in cinemas countrywide on 25 July. The film stars Tony Kgoroge as Sizwe, an ambitious policeman from Khayelitsha who uncovers an abalone smuggling scheme while investigating […]

Check out these two awesome videos from a new photographic South African tour company. The company’s tours are specifically tailored for international photography and film graduates…but they’re the perfect eye candy for any South African missing SA or in SA but unable to afford the time or budget to get away! (Scroll down for videos.) […]

South Africa may not be participating in the World Cup 2014…but that hasn’t dampened the football fever for these school children at Royal Drakensberg Primary in KwaZulu-Natal, playing on the fields of the Drakensberg rather than in the stadiums of Brazil. “This is our break-up day soccer festival,” says Megan Bedinham. “We’re a small school […]

Tourists (and locals) in Cape Town are loving the city’s new initiative – giant yellow picture frames set up in gorgeous locations around the city so that visitors can photograph themselves from well-known and unusual views with Table Mountain as a backdrop. The Table Mountain Frames Project includes the erection of seven frames, produced by South African […]

It’s been a year to the day since South African expat Gela-Marie Williams won the Finch Memoir Prize in her new homeland Australia for her inspiring and heartbreaking ‘Green Vanilla Tea’. At that moment she was at a crossroads in her life and career, a self-described “woman in the process of reinvention”. Twelve months later and […]

Some of South Africa’s hottest young surfers will be riding it out next weekend in the second leg of the Quiksilver “Takes One to Know One” event in Umdloti. The KZN North Coast event – which will be held on 31 May to 01 June – will feature close to 90 surfers and offers over […]

Thandani Ntshumayelo apologised to his Orlando Pirates team-mates today on Twitter, after the bare-all photo he posted of them on Instagram caused a bit of a sensation! After the team’s 3-1 win against Bidvest Wits on Saturday in the Nedbank Cup Final 2014, the guys posed proudly with their shiny new trophy…in the shower! Stark […]

So this isn’t a South African story, but we couldn’t resist sharing Jimmy Fallon’s latest video offering. The popular American TV show host got into a little bit of “nip syncing” with pro-footballer Terry Crews (whom you may recognise as the star of the Old Spice commercials). A very buffed-looking Fallon appears to hold his […]

Why vote? Am I eligible to vote? Where do I vote? What are my rights as a voter? Read our plain English answers to these and many more questions about South Africa’s 2014 elections. Jump to: Before election day On election day After election day Before election day 1. Why vote in the elections? By […]

The books team at the Sunday Times has put together a list of the top South African books that they believe give readers insight into the country’s transition into a free and democratic nation. Here we highlight the past 20 years of winners of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, South Africa’s premier literary award. Named for […]

She may not be Jesus of Jerusalem, as former Police Commissioner Bheki Cele once reminded her, but Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2014, according to Time magazine. She is, as Lamido Sanusi, former governor of the Bank of Nigeria described in the biography he penned for […]

South African players received a favorable draw when the official draw procedures for the Airports Company South Africa Gauteng Open were concluded on Tuesday at the Gauteng East Tennis Complex in Benoni. Stephane Houdet of France tops the men’s seeds and is scheduled to meet arch rival Gordon Reid of Great Britain in the final. […]

Presley Chweneyagae of Tsotsi fame returns to the South African big screen on Thursday when crime thriller iNumber Number, the fourth film by award-winning director Donovan Marsh, opens in cinemas nationwide. Chweneyage stars opposite lead S’dumo Mtshali in an action-packed story about a pair of cops battling corrupt colleagues as well as a gang of armoured-car thieves. Sello […]

As South Africa celebrates 20 years of a vibrant and robust democracy, it commemorates a significant trial in the country’s turbulent history the 1963 to 1964 Rivonia Trial. The trial – named for the Johannesburg suburb in which members of the African National Congress’s (ANC) armed wing (Umkhonto We Sizwe, The Spear of the Nation) […]

Cape Town is the design capital of the world and in true, cutting edge form, South Africa’s first fashion film event will be hosted in the city. The lavish Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival will run from 5 to 7 June. The Mother City, known for its beauty, vineyards and international jet setters who […]