TOKYO – South African flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit was named World Rugby player of the year at a glitzy ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday, with Rassie Erasmus claiming the coaching award, fresh from securing the World Cup title on Saturday. Du Toit was a colossus for the Springboks during the World Cup and dominated the […]

CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s World Cup winning rugby team face a marathon week of celebrations when they return from Japan with ticker-tape parades scheduled countrywide to mark their success, SA Rugby said on Sunday. The first members of the squad are due back in South Africa on Tuesday following their 32-12 win over England […]

JOHANNESBURG – In Sakhumzi bar in Johannesburg’s Soweto township, crowds erupted in cheering and singing on Saturday as South Africa’s rugby team triumphed 32-12 over England to win the World Cup in Japan. In this bar and in countless venues around the country, it was a time to set aside South Africa’s troubles, noisily revel […]

YOKOHAMA – South Africa laid the groundwork with traditional Springbok rugby and finished an out-gunned England side off with two late tries to win the World Cup for the third time courtesy of a 32-12 victory on Saturday. Wingers Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe crossed in the last 15 minutes for South Africa’s first ever […]

Moody’s left South Africa on the brink of “junk” status on Friday after it revised the outlook on the country’s last investment-grade credit rating to “negative,” piling pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to quicken the pace of reform. Moody’s said the outlook revision on its ‘Baa3’ rating, the lowest rung of investment grade, was motivated […]

South Africa‘s first black rugby captain Siya Kolisi may have made an even more positive impact on unity in the country than the iconic gesture of Nelson Mandela donning a Springboks jersey for the 1995 World Cup final, former flyhalf Joel Stransky says. Stransky put over the decisive drop-goal as South Africa beat New Zealand to win the Webb […]

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi did not have a television at home the last time the Springboks played in the Rugby World Cup final but 12 years on leads his team out in Saturday’s decider against England in a remarkable rags to riches story. From growing up in a dusty, poverty-stricken township on the eastern […]

Taste Holdings, owner of Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza franchises in South Africa, said on Friday it was abandoning the food business, and had already sold its 13 stores of the coffee chain to a consortium for R7 million ($464,000). The company said it was also in discussions around the sale of Domino’s and its two other food […]

South Africa‘s rand firmed on Friday as an unexpected bounce in Chinese factory activity helped offset concerns over prospects of a U.S.-China trade pact and skittishness ahead of a long-awaited decision on South Africa‘s credit rating. The rand traded at 15.0600 versus the greenback by 0505 GMT, 0.31% stronger compared with the previous day’s close. […]

A record 45 million people across southern Africa face severe food shortages in the next six months, with around a quarter of them currently enduring drought-induced “crisis” food insecurity, three United Nations agencies warned on Thursday. The 16-member Southern African Development Community is in the grips of a severe drought, as climate change wreaks havoc […]

CAPE TOWN – South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus’ outstanding rugby brain and ability to sell a game-plan to his players has been the catalyst for a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the Springboks, according to former teammate Robbie Fleck. Erasmus has taken the Boks from their worst ever season in 2016, when they won four […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand suffered its steepest fall in more than a year on Wednesday after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni forecast wider budget deficits and a sharp increase in debt during his medium-term budget policy statement. The rand was down more than 2.4% at 14.9810 against the U.S. dollar by 1533 GMT, partially recovering […]

TOKYO – England’s scintillating performance in blowing apart the seemingly invincible All Blacks last weekend has installed them, in many people’s minds, as firm favourites for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final against South Africa. BUT… England were sublime in their 19-7 crushing of New Zealand, but the title showdown will be an entirely different affair, […]

South Africa aims to complete the legal separation of loss-making state power utility Eskom into three units – generation, transmission and distribution – by around 2022, a government plan showed on Tuesday. President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a state of the nation address in February that the government planned to split up Eskom, but there has been little […]

TOKYO – Winger Cheslin Kolbe is likely to be back in the South Africa matchday squad for the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup final against England in Yokohama, Japan, on Saturday, coach Rassie Erasmus said on Tuesday. Kolbe, an important attacking weapon for the Springboks, missed their pool match against Canada with an ankle problem and […]

A large ancient wetlands region spanning northern Botswana – once teeming with life but now dominated by desert and salt flats – may represent the ancestral homeland of all of the 7.7 billion people on Earth today, researchers said on Monday. Their study, guided by maternal DNA data from more than 1,200 people indigenous to […]

LOS ANGELES – Wind-whipped flames chased thousands of residents from some of Los Angeles’ wealthiest neighborhoods and threatened the famed Getty Center museum on Monday, the latest outbreak in a wildfire season that has triggered mass evacuations and power outages across California. The fire erupted in the vicinity of the Getty Center at around 1:30 […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa has imposed emergency measures, including rationing, to save dwindling water supplies after an abnormally hot, dry summer coupled with below average rainfall and a spike in usage pushing the country towards a crippling shortage. Dam levels across the country have dropped by 10% to 60% compared to 2018, according to a […]

YOKOHAMA – Springboks flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked a penalty four minutes from time to send South Africa into their third Rugby World Cup final with a 19-16 victory over Wales in a semi-final dogfight on Sunday. The South Africans will return to Yokohama next weekend to bid for a third World Cup triumph against an […]

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN – England produced one of their greatest-ever performances to end New Zealand’s bid for a third successive World Cup on Saturday, utterly outplaying them during an extraordinary 19-7 semi-final victory and reaching the final for the first time in 12 years. England dominated from first to last, looking sharper, faster, stronger and more […]

Springboks winger Cheslin Kolbe will miss the Rugby World Cup semi-final against Wales because of an ankle injury, coach Rassie Erasmus said on Thursday. (See the full Springboks team for the semi-final match at the bottom of the page.) Kolbe, one of the standout players of the tournament, missed South Africa’s pool match against Canada with an […]

South Africa’s state-run airports management company said on Thursday it had suspended Zimbabwe’s debt-strapped national airline from using the country’s airports over unpaid landing and parking fees. Air Zimbabwe owes foreign and domestic creditors more than $300 million. The Zimabwe government put the airline under administration last year and later invited bids from potential investors […]

JOHANNESBURG – Forty of the 46 airplanes grounded this week – owing to faults found at the maintenance unit of state-owned South African Airways (SAA) – have been returned to service, the head of South Africa’s aviation regulator said on Thursday. The faults found at SAA Technical have focused attention on the crisis at SAA, […]

The former leader of South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane, gave up his seat in parliament on Thursday after quitting the national leadership and plunging the traditionally white liberal party into crisis. Race and class remain highly divisive issues in South Africa, where the ruling African National Congress has been in power since […]

GABORONE – More than 100 elephants have died in Botswana in the past two months partly because of a suspected anthrax outbreak, the government said on Tuesday. “Preliminary investigations suggest the elephants are dying from anthrax whilst some died from drought effects,” a Department of Wildlife and National Parks statement said. “Due to the severe […]