Sixty-five years ago today Mahatma Gandhi, one of the 20th century’s great spiritual leaders, was assassinated in India, at the age of 78. On 30 January 1948 Nathuram Godse pushed through a crowd around Gandhi, and fired three shots at point-blank range. He died on the spot. Gandhi’s 21-year South African sojourn nurtured the creation […]

From an email doing the rounds !                  

This year, the music documentary about folk singer Sixto Rodriguez, Searching for Sugar Man, has been nominated for Best Documentary in 2013, the 85th instalment of the movie awards. It is up against 5 Broken Cameras, How to Survive a Plague, The Gatekeepers, and The Invincible War. The film, which was shot in Cape Town, has also been nominated for […]

In typical Zululander style, the locals didn’t let a little flood stop them having fun this weekend. Legendary jet ski champion Dustin Motzouris took to the streets of Empangeni and thrilled the town with his daring manoeuvres.  With the police buzzing him with their sirens (but perhaps secretly impressed…and stumped on how to catch him), […]

Imagine taking a bath anywhere at any time without using the traditional method of water. A young South African entrepreneur has developed a product that will allow people who have limited access to water to maintain their standards of hygiene. Ludwick Marishane hails originally from Motetema on the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, a town located […]

A South African scientist has been named one of 20 ‘Youngest Power Women in Africa 2012’ by Forbes Magazine. These are women – all under the age of 45 – who are bringing about positive change on the continent by influencing African business, technology, science, policy and media. Dr Patience Mthunzi, a scientist at the Council for Scientific […]

Had it not been for the passion of a self-trained South African naturalist, the discovery of a living specimen of the rare coelacanth around this time in 1938 may never have happened. Eastern Cape native Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer originally trained as a nurse. Although her wish was to work in a museum, there were few opportunities […]

  Only in South Africa is it permissible for a company to drive on a main arterial road (in Cape Town) using a worker as a prop for glass On the back of an open vehicle at break neck speed !   I know this is “Africa” and all that but if we don’t comment on […]

When Jessica Foord was gang-raped five years ago while on a hike with her father, she vowed not to let the trauma consume her life. The survivor of a crime that reportedly takes place in South Africa every 17 seconds, Foord – who was 21 at the time – was determined to use the experience […]

Award-winning songbird Lira is set to wow the world – she’s received a request to perform at President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration ball on 21 January 2013. Lira, who was born Lerato Molapo in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg, is no one-hit wonder – the singer was discovered in 2000 and since then has been raking in the […]

Homer’s Iliad, the well-known Greek poem set in the Trojan War, has been translated into English versions and virtually every language in the world for many centuries, but now a South African professor in classic literature has published the first South African English translation of the epic tale. Prof Richard Whitaker from the School of Languages and Literature […]

Top South African open water marathon swimmer Theodore Yach, who holds the record for the most crossings to Robben Island, has published an autobiography that has been nominated for an international award by the World Open Water Swimming Association. The 2012 winner is determined entirely by online voting, and South Africans have until 31 December 2012 to vote for In […]

London’s prestigious Tate Gallery has turned its eyes to Africa, with plans to bring modern art from the continent to international attention through a two-year programme of exhibitions and performances. The intercontinental Across the Board programme started on 24 November with the official opening at the Tate Modern in London. The opening event featured performances in the […]

Following a severe eye injury which forced his early retirement, former Proteas wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has gloved up for rhinos – the cricket star has decided to devote his time to rhino activism as South Africa battles with escalating poaching figures. Boucher and South African Breweries (SAB) launched the non-profit SAB-Boucher Conservation in October this year. Boucher was appointed […]

Humanitarian, businessman and academic Jakes Gerwel, a close friend of former president Nelson Mandela, will be remembered for his humility, and as an icon of the freedom struggle and a literature teacher who inspired hundreds of students. The memorial service for Gerwel, who never recovered from a heart bypass operation and passed away on 28 […]

The Cape Town-based Desmond Tutu TB Centre (DTTC) has won a prestigious global accolade for its work, a welcome nod of approval for those working to help reduce infections of the lung disease among children in South Africa and the rest of the developing world. According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis report of 2012, […]

A Western Cape high school principal’s open letter to South African President Jacob Zuma has gone viral. The letter, penned by Bergvliet High School headmaster Stephen Price, addresses education in South Africa and references a well-known letter written by local celebrity Gareth Cliff a couple of years ago. Both letters are published below… Dear President […]

Sizwe Nzima, a young entrepreneur from Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, has started an innovative business that is helping to solve overcrowding at public health facilities, while also improving the lives of people who rely on chronic medication. Instead of standing in long queues for hours, Nzima’s Iyeza Express collects chronic medication from local clinics […]

The winners of the ImpACT awards for excellence in arts and culture were announced by the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) at their 15th annual ceremony on 9 November. The initiative recognises South Africa’s top young artistic professionals, and among those lauded were The Muffinz for music and singing, Phillip Dikotla for theatre and fashion label Ozlo South […]

South African entrepreneur Nthabi Sibanda was shortlisted as a finalist in the 2012 Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, an annual international initiative to identify, support and encourage projects by women entrepreneurs who lead companies in sectors ranging from disaster relief to sanitary waste management, education, healthcare and employment. Sibanda’s entry stood out from more than 1 000 […]

As many as 34 local filmmakers have made their way to the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) – with 22 documentaries in tow – to showcase locally made productions at the prestigious event. It is the largest South African industry delegation yet to take works to an international festival or market. Working with the support […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) in Hollywood  honoured the latest recipients of the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting at a gala dinner in Beverly Hills on Thursday 8 November. Among the five is South African filmmaker Sean Robert Daniels, from Pretoria in Gauteng. He wrote Killers, the story of a female contract killer whose dying […]

From growing up in a modest mud hut in rural Limpopo to living a single room with his family inside a Johannesburg baseball clubhouse, and later becoming the first black South African ever to sign a professional baseball contract,  Gift Ngoepe’s story is nothing short of extraordinary. Ngoepe (22) was signed to the Pittsburgh Pirates […]

Young golfing champion Daniël Slabbert, an amputee, is living proof that adversity is no match for determination and a belief in one’s own talents. At just 21 years old, Slabbert is already a veteran of the golf course and a championship winner, and even with a prosthetic leg, he is capable of just about anything. […]

The PinkDrive is an ongoing initiative dedicated to breast cancer, which powers mobile mammography and education units for women across South Africa, while promoting awareness. Through its mobile services, single mother of two, Mandy Winter, discovered she had breast cancer three years ago in October – the designated month for breast cancer awareness. Winter (43) was diagnosed […]