After the relentless Boks vs Japan jokes following South Africa’s shock defeat against Japan in their opening match of the Rugby World Cup, it has been announced that Japan’s coach – Eddie Jones – will take over as head coach of the DHL Stormers for the start of the 2016 Vodacom Super Rugby season. After South […]

The Springboks have made eight changes to the starting line-up and included two new players on the bench to meet the challenge of a talented Samoan team in their second match of the Rugby World Cup at Villa Park in Birmingham on Saturday. Adriaan Strauss, who will win his 50th cap, is the starting hooker, […]

Broken toilets, transport of waste and ways to save electricity – these three diverse things all got the attention of inventors who have been awarded prizes in the Green City Startup competition in Johannesburg. Watch the video of Gabriel Ally and e-Trike: The nine-month competition started with 86 entrants, who were whittled down to eight. The first-place […]

PRETORIA – The fallout from the horrific shootings of 34 miners at Marikana in 2012 continue to be felt, as President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday appointed a commission of inquiry into the Police Commissioner Riay Phiyegi’s fitness to hold office. The three-member board led by Judge Cornelis Claasen will probe “the allegations of misconduct by the national […]

You know your engagement is off to a good start when even an airline gets involved! Passengers on a Cape Town to Lanseria flight on Thursday night were treated to the best in-flight entertainment when media executive – and diehard romantic – Damion van Alphen proposed to his girlfriend, while a local airline’s staff played […]

PRETORIA – The appeal by the state against Oscar Pistorius over his sentence for the death of Reeva Steenkamp will be heard before the Supreme Court of Appeal on 3 November, it was announced on Tuesday. More than a year ago, on 12 September, Pistorius was acquitted of murder but convicted of culpable homicide for the shooting death […]

At least 2,000 South Africans have lost their citizenship since 2010 after becoming the citizens of other countries, the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, said on Monday. In reply to a question from the Democratic Alliance in parliament, Gigaba said about 500 South Africans a year had lost their citizenship in the past four years. He […]

BLOEMFONTEIN – Danish national Peter Fredekrisen who was arrested last week after female genitals were found stashed in his freezer was remanded in custody in Bloemfontein Magistrate Court on Monday. Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said. 21 suspected female genitals, scheduled anaesthetic medicine and surgical doctor’s operating equipment were found in Fredekrisen house in Langenhoven Park, Bloemfontein. Police […]

CAPE TOWN – The opposition Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday the loss of R64 million a month in holiday accommodation revenue between April and June – and loss of holiday makers – can be directly ascribed to the government’s rollout of its biometric visa programme. The programme, introduced last year, requires certain visa applicants to actually […]

A movie set in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra, ‘Thina Sobabili’, is hoping to be nominated for the foreign movie section of the next Academy Awards. ‘Thina Sobabili’, meaning ‘The Two of Us’, is by first-time director Ernest Nkosi, according to Variety magazine. The nomination was announced on Monday by the South African Academy Awards selection committee […]

OUAGADOUGOU – Troops loyal to the Burkina Faso government have apparently told members of a coup led by former general Gilbert Diendere to stand down or face attack, according to news reports. The country is meant to elect a new leader on 11 October, almost a year after Blaise Compaore, who had led the country for 27 […]

I hope and pray for your safety on this day when the world celebrates you. I’ve been following your footsteps closely for the past 18-months and I’ve had many ups and downs over this period. Last week was particularly difficult for me to once again witness what my species is capable of. One of you […]

CAPE TOWN – Vandals using a power tool sawed the nose off a bronze bust of Cecil John Rhodes at Rhodes Memorial on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, a news report said today. A spokesman for Table Mountain National Park said on Monday that security at the monument had been increased after the vandalism. The report […]

By popular demand, here’s a collection of the Springbok World Cup Rugby jokes that are currently being churned out faster than tuna rolls on a sushi train. Thank you to everyone who submitted these pictures, memes and videos… Japan did it. They beat the Springboks 34-32 in what is being called the biggest world cup shock in […]

The Samoa rugby team surprised South African rugby legend Joost van der Westhuizen over the weekend with a rendition of a special Samoan hymn. The team, who will play the Springboks on Saturday 26 September in the Rugby World Cup, uploaded a video of the occasion to their facebook page on Saturday saying: “Totally humbling experience […]

CAPE TOWN – Protesters objecting to Grammy winner Pharrell Williams holding a concert in Cape Town on Monday because of his connections to Woolworths are allowed to go ahead with their demonstration, according to a report by Agence France Press. Williams, famous for his song ‘Happy’, was recently appointed a style director by Woolworths, and the group Boycotts, Divestment […]

EAST LONDON – South Africans needed to become more concerned about recycling and to make the effort to buy material produced from recycled material, the deputy minister of environmental affairs Barbara Thomson said on the weekend. Watch a new video about the global impact of plastic, narrated by Jeff Bridges: https://youtu.be/wwDq3WoO7V4 Speaking at an International Coastal […]

Fifteen-year-old South African Leroy Mokgatle has triumphed at the esteemed Genee International Ballet Competition in London by winning the gold medal. He also won the Margo Fonteyn Audience Award. Watch the incredible Leroy dancing ‘Freedom’: https://youtu.be/GCBh8QJ6P0o The Royal Academy of Dance event was held at the famous Sadler Wells. Past Genee medallists have gone on to […]

Viola Davis was the biggest news of the Emmy Awards last night, becoming the first African-American to win the Award for best actress in a drama series. And this morning her name has trended in the top three on Twitter in South Africa with media celebrating her win (see below). The 50-year-old actress who studied at Juillard […]

Only days before Trevor Noah takes over the popular “Daily Show”, it won an Emmy award on Sunday night for Outstanding Variety Talk Series. In an interview before the awards, Noah gave his thoughts on actresses he loves, Donald Trump and how he felt about his upcoming job. The Emmys ceremony last night was bittersweet for Jon Stewart, who […]

A tweet from a foreign journalist commending South African fans for their awesome sportsmanship, after yesterday’s shock 32-34 loss against Japan at the Rugby World Cup in the UK, has gone viral. Olly Barratt, a TV and radio correspondent based in London, sent several tweets from the history-making match between South Africa and Japan yesterday. At the […]

Japan entered today’s match with confidence, and at the end, with just minutes to go – when offered the choice of an unmissable penalty kick to draw with the mighty South Africa…Japan held their heads up high and chose to go for gold, and scrum instead. It paid off and in the biggest rugby shock ever…Japan […]

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – South African teenage boys have an unusual way of punishing their girlfriends: gang-raping them with their friends. It’s a way of demonstrating their power when they feel slighted, said Rachel Jewkes, an expert on sexual violence. “A boyfriend organises to have sex with his girlfriend and then he tricks her […]

Kevin Richardson, the South African also known as the Lion Whisperer because of his close-quarters work with lions, has just released a video pleading for greater awareness of canned lion hunting is. In brief, Richardson says that canned hunting, which is being criticised by more and more conservation organizations around the world, is the hunting of a […]

MAPUTO – Mozambique has been declared free of land mines decades after efforts began to clear the country of the killer hazard. According to the Guardian, Mozambique is to declare itself the first heavily mined country in the world to be cleared of all known minefields. One of the major movers behind de-mining efforts has been the […]