DOHA, QATAR – Qatar Airways says it has paid out over R200-Million since March 2020, honouring its obligation to passengers who had travel plans impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline said in a statement on Wednesday that this demonstrates its commitment to the SA market. The airline said it also helped repatriate over 12,000 […]

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria today ruled against the motion to have the COVID-19 beach ban regulation declared unconstitutional. This means that all beaches in the Eastern Cape, as well as on the Garden Route in the Western Cape, will remain closed until 3 January; and that all beaches in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) will […]

News that British Airways has announced plans to suspend 13 destinations, including the direct Durban – London route, has been met with disappointment by KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Economic Development and Tourism Department… as well as understanding. The department’s Ravi Pillay has warned this will hamper growth of international air services into the province post-Covid-19, but said […]

The Western Cape High Court has extended beach opening hours, but has judged in favour of keeping the Garden Route’s beaches closed for the festive season, as announced by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa last week (along with all beaches in the Eastern Cape). The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it notes the ex tempora judgement […]

As thousands prepare to travel long-distance, operators say they need help with masks and sanitisers. Though numbers are down because of Covid-19 job losses, about 20,000 people are expected to travel from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape this year. Taxi associations say they are taking precautions but need help from the authorities. Taxi […]

Only a massive global rollout of an effective vaccine can end the Covid-19 pandemic in the short term. The vaccine is being rolled out in the United Kingdom and United States. It’s expected to become available in Europe imminently. This is where things stand in South Africa. The Department of Health is playing its cards […]

Germany plans to ban all passenger flights between Germany and South Africa with an emergency order. Israel has implemented a similar ban on flights from SA. Both Germany and Israel, along with several other countries, have also closed their borders to the UK. German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Sunday: “Tomorrow we are planning […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it has found out that once again, Minister Dlamini-Zuma has decided to overrule President Ramaphosa through the latest amended regulations published on the 17th of December 2020. “This time, Minster Dlamini-Zuma has unilaterally decided to change the closing time for restaurants, bars, gyms, cinemas, theatres and museums from 10pm to […]

Epidemiologist and Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 in South Africa, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, has been awarded the 2020 John Maddox Prize. Prof Karim was named joint winner with Dr Anthony Fauci from the US. President Cyril Ramaphosa was one of the first to congratulate Prof Karim, saying: “It is an honour […]

Cape Town residents have taken to social media to praise the body corporate of a well-known housing complex in Kensington for hiring unemployed people from a nearby informal settlement to do their renovations. The Kensington Place Body Corporate plans to unveil the newly renovated complex on Saturday, 19 December. This is the first time in […]

According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa has missed the second deadline for a deposit on the Covax Vaccine Facility, and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni perhaps mislead Parliament when he denied SA had missed the first deadline. “Securing a supply of the vaccine for South Africa as soon as possible should be government’s number […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed court papers in the Western Cape High Court challenging a decision taken by South Africa’s national government to close the beaches in the Garden Route District for the entire festive season (16 Dec to 3 Jan). “We had provided President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma with an extended […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will lay a complaint with Parliament’s Ethics Committee against the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, after he appeared to issue unlawful operational instructions to South African Police Service (SAPS) officials to shut down a film shoot at Camps Bay beach on Wednesday. The incident occurred yesterday when the Police […]

South Africa is set to receive initial vaccines from the COVAX facility to cover 10% of its population in the early part of 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced to the nation on Monday evening. The President said SA concluded all the necessary processes to ensure its participation in the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Global Vaccine […]

Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, has a litany of financial and operational problems. In 2017 the Goldman Sachs Group declared it the biggest risk to the South African economy. Several cabinet members have said so too. President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that Eskom is “too big to fail”. The first huge problem is debt of […]

Democratic Alliance Leader, John Steenhuisen, was less than impressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcements tonight which included certain beach bans, alcohol restrictions, longer curfew and other guidelines. (View the full SA Festive Season restrictions here.) President Ramaphosa said on Monday that in the areas with the highest rate of infection, beaches and public parks will […]

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Monday evening about the closure of some beaches, longer curfew, alcohol restrictions and other guidelines for the festive season, the tourism industry appears to support the President’s attempt to protect South Africans’ lives as Covid-19 cases soar and SA experiences its second wave of infections. There is a lot […]

Team YouTube has announced that YouTube is “back up and running!” Hundreds of users across the world took to social media on Monday afternoon to complain the service wasn’t working, and #YouTubeDOWN and #google were two of the top five highest trending hashtags on Twitter in South Africa today. Team YouTube had earlier acknowledged it […]

Following a video showing what appeared to be a packed crowd dancing at a Cape Town venue on Sunday, with flagrant disregard to Covid-19 protocols, the federated hospitality association of South Africa, FEDHASA, has condemned in the strongest terms what it brands “irresponsible behaviour by hospitality establishments and consumers” which may contribute to the increased […]

South Africans can breathe a sigh of relief as the planned loadshedding today, Sunday 13 December, has been cancelled. Eskom said in a statement on Sunday morning that it was pleased to announce that the emergency generation reserves had sufficiently recovered overnight and subsequently no loadshedding would be required. “Eskom thanks the people for their […]

Eskom announced some good and bad news to South Africans on Saturday evening. The bad news is the loadshedding will continue on Sunday between 06h00 and 23h00. The good news is that it will be  reduced to Stage 1, thanks to the recovery in the emergency generation reserves showing “significant progress”. South Africa’s power utility […]

It’s an early Christmas for Eskom which has struck a deal with service provider ABB to recoup over R1.56-billion which had been irregularly paid by the power utility to the Zurich-based industrial giant. According to the SA government news service “ABB was fingered in suspicious payments relating to contracts awarded in 2015 involving the control […]

Eskom has ‘urged’ the South African public to reduce their usage of electricity as the system is severely constrained, with a “high probability of loadshedding”. ​The power utility said in a statement on Thursday evening: While no loadshedding is anticipated, Eskom would like to warn the public there is a high probability of loadshedding should […]

On Tuesday Forbes announced that South African expat Elon Musk has become the second richest person in the world, after his fortune surpassed that of LVMH luxury brand chairman Bernard Arnault (by less than half a billion). The only person with greater wealth is reportedly Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos. UPDATE 7 Jan 2021: Elon Musk […]

South Africa’s brand new airline, LIFT, has officially lifted off… and landed to a plane hero’s welcome with a water salute landing at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The airline will be flying in and out of Cape Town seven days a week. Wesgro – Cape Town & the Western Cape – tweeted “The […]