CAPE TOWN – Four minutes is probably nothing in parliamentary debates, but last week saw a memorable 240-second interlude during the university fees debate when a member of the Democratic Alliance called a member of the Economic Freedom Front a Teletubby. DA chief whip John Steenhuisen stood up on a point of order just after DA leader […]

Breakfast in a bunny? That’s what’s being offered to Londoners at a corner take-away restaurant in Soho that is owned by a Londoner who once travelled to South Africa and was taken with the cuisine. The aptly named Bunnychow, which opened on Wardour Street about a year ago, is about one block away from the nearest Nando’s, which […]

There have been several amazing stories recently of lions rescued from terrible conditions abroad – including an airlift of 33 cats from South America – but none of them as pull-on-your-heartstrings as the tale of young Lia, who arrived in South Africa from Egypt last week. Watch the video of Lia and Elsa getting to know each other […]

The production house Two Wheels Across has released a video made over six weeks of Cape Town from a bird’s-eye view, a follow-up to an earlier video of the city as the starting point of a cross-Africa motorbike ride. Watch the Cape Town video Two Wheels Across is the brainchild of Beirut-born Christian Ghammachi who did a solo […]

President Jacob Zuma made a public visit to the Kruger National Park on Sunday, not long after news had broken of four lions, 46 vultures and an elephant being killed with poison in the park. Zuma visited Kruger to lead an anti-rhino poaching awareness day and officially launch the Joint Operation Centre in Skukuza to coordinate efforts against poaching, […]

Botswana has come out as the leader in Lonely Planet’s list of countries in the world most worth travelling to in 2016. Lonely Planet highlights the top city, region and country in the world for 2016 in this video What might have also made the country a winner, besides the fact that next year is its 50th […]

A statue by Anton van Wouw that was originally won with a 10 cent raffle ticket could fetch half a million rand in a Johannesburg auction next week of major South African artworks. Paintings and sculptures by luminaries such as Maggie Laubser, Jan Hendrik Pierneef, Irma Stern, Ephraim Mojalefa Ngatane, Lucas Sithole and William Kentridge are […]

CAPE TOWN – The Democratic Alliance has terminated the membership of parliamentarian Diane Kohler Barnard after finding her guilty of misconduct, the party announced on Friday. In September, Kohler Barnard shared a Facebook post by freelance journalist Paul Kirk which said education, health and the police service were better during the apartheid-era rule of former president […]

For a country that even has a movement promoting a National Braai Day – on Heritage Day – and a National Braai Day anthem, the latest news about meat from the World Health Organisation probably doesn’t sit very well. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a research division of the World Health Organization, said Monday […]

On the one-month anniversary of taking over the ‘Daily Show’ from Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah spent part of yesterday being interviewed by hugely popular talk show host Ellen Degeneres, who spoke to him about his love of roller coasters. Watch a short clip from the ‘Ellen’ show in the video here Degeneres said on the […]

ABUJA – Shares in telecommunications giant MTN reportedly fell to a three-year low on Tuesday after the Nigerian Communications Commission on Monday fined the company $5.2 billion for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards. Nigeria is apparently MTN’s biggest market by subscribers. The penalty could wipe out more than two years of MTN’s profits, one news report said. The NCC […]

The forced removal of some 60,000 people from District Six in Cape Town, many in the 1970s, is still hard to comprehend, but there are numerous areas in the city where the same thing happened, and a new film to be shown free in Cape Town on 29 October focuses its lens on some of the affected […]

JOHANNESBURG – In contrast to the mostly peaceful student protests that took place last week over student fees being raised on South African campuses, fires broke out on one Wits University campus overnight, already generating the hashtag #WitsOnFire. One news report said that a bookstore and two vehicles were set alight and access control mechanisms on turnstiles ripped […]

Now that the government has approved changes to its controversial and financially disastrous visa regulations, it is time to catch up on how a few sectors are preparing for the end-of-year holiday season. Several airlines like Turkish and Lufthansa have scheduled new flights to South Africa and are increasing existing flights per week, while cities are […]

It’s a bit like going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Last week zealous students nationwide protested against a hike in university fees on campuses and then marched on the Union Buildings. Today the EFF marched on Sandton. And this Friday, the ANC Women’s League has said it will march to protest the way the president is […]

NEW YORK – After more than 128,000 travelers took part in the US Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s 28th annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey, the most in its history, the South Africa-owned lodge Singita Grumeti in Tanzania was chosen the world’s top hotel. Coming in at No. 3 was Bushmanskloof Wilderness Reserve in the Cedarberg. Cape Town came sixteenth […]

TORONTO – In two roundups of the world’s best MBA programs, the University of Cape Town came out in the Top 50 of one, and was ranked best in Africa in the other. The highly regarded Canadian magazine Corporate Knights, which is a supplement to the Washington Post and subtitles itself The Magazine for Clean Capitalism, […]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India hosts its biggest-ever Africa summit this week as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to challenge China’s dominance on a continent that is blessed with vast natural resources and has the world’s fastest-growing population. New Delhi wants to project its soft power and historical ties to Africa, in contrast to China’s […]

STELLENBOSCH – The South African mobile social network Mxit, once dubbed the largest social network in Africa, has closed down commercial operations after a decade in business, according to news reports. All of Mxit’s intellectual property and technology assets will be donated to independent public benefit organisation The Reach Trust. Reports said that Mxit, which was launched in 2005, […]

When the famed Outeniqua Chootjoe stopped doing its breathtaking run from George to Knysna, over the Kaaimans Bridge, many lamented the passing of another famous train trip in South Africa. Truth is, there are still a bunch of fantastic train trips available (and even the George-Knysna route might operate again soon). 1. The Blue Train Started […]

South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale has said he is going to run for the post of chief of the world football-governing body FIFA, according to news reports. The 62-year-old Sexwale is the firth person to declare his candidacy for the post to soon be vacated by Sepp Blatter. The election for the post will take place on 26 […]

On her fourth out of 13 Durban curry hot (!) spots, Sarah Khan had some bunny chow, which she had heard from local food author Erica Platter people get as worked up about as they do about soccer. “Bunny followers are as fanatical as football-club supporters,” said Platter, co-author of ‘Durban Curry: So Much of Flavour’. “Once […]

In preparation for Shabbat, or the Sabbath in Hebrew, no less than 1,700 women gathered in Cape Town on Wednesday to knead dough for the Great Big Challah Bake, part of a worldwide event started in South Africa only three years ago. One of the prime movers behind the project has been South Africa’s chief rabbi […]

As students get ready to march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Friday, a comment by the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, has become a video sensation and made students think his words show the government does not care about their demands. In this video, the news report that caused all the trouble: President Jacob Zuma, who has […]

HONG KONG – A Chinese group has awarded President Robert Mugabe what is called China’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, with the chairman of the committee saying the Zimbabwean president was “injecting fresh energy” into the global quest for harmony, according to news reports on Thursday. The Confucius Prize, first awarded in 2010, comes with an award of […]