There has been outrage in South Africa in the past week over the alleged “secret abuse” by President Cyril Rampahosa of the Ministerial Handbook to dish out expensive perks to ministers and deputy ministers. (See video below.) UPDATE: Ramaphosa withdraws Ministerial Handbook. Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has exposed how due to Ramaphosa’s amendments to […]

City of Cape Town says the cause is probably growth of algae. By Liezl Human. The fish die-off in the polluted Milnerton Lagoon in Cape Town on 8 October was the result of algae growth, says the City of Cape Town. The City said the growth of algae had depleted oxygen in the water. The […]

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has said he can no longer indefinitely pay for the critical satellite services in the Ukraine, which his company SpaceX has been funding, at a cost of $80-million so far. He has allegedly asked the Pentagon to start helping to fund the service. Fans of Musk, who was born […]

Reuters – Robbie Coltrane, the larger-than-life Scottish actor who played Hagrid, Hogwarts’ giant caretaker, in the Harry Potter films, died on Friday (October 14) at the age of 72, his agent said. His agent Belinda Wright announced in a statement: “My client and friend Robbie Coltrane OBE passed away on Friday October 14. Robbie was […]

Tourists from around the world have had to wait in customs on average for at least three hours at OR Tambo International Airport due to the piloting of a new biometric system, according to the DA that says it has been alerted to these delays in tourists being able to reach the public arrivals area. […]

PARKTOWN – The Serious and Violent Crime (SVC) unit in Gauteng has arrested Johannesburg’s most wanted suspected arsonist. The notorious criminal – known as the ‘Sandton Arsonist’ – is linked to murder, residential burglary and 25 counts of arson committed in Johannesburg northern suburbs in the past two years. The arrest took place at around […]

JOHANNESBURG (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For more than a decade, musician Thomas Nhassavele has been busking next to the parking payment machine at Johannesburg’s Rosebank Mall, South Africa, where drivers often dropped their change into his guitar case. By Kim Harrisberg But Nhassavele’s takings have dwindled in the past year or two as growing numbers […]

A video has captured the moment an amazingly obedient – and rather large! – baboon does as requested in a hotel room in South Africa! The incident reportedly took place at Sun City. A woman can be heard politely begging: “Please go…” and then adding incredulously “udl’ushukela” (you eat sugar?)… to which the sugar-loving baboon […]

(Reuters) – Angela Lansbury, the British-born actress who was famous around the world – including in South Africa – has died at the age of 96, her family said on Tuesday. Lansbury’s career spanned eight decades and produced indelible portraits of a wide range of characters from villainesses to sleuths and light comic roles in […]

The massive blackout in Durban tonight (Tuesday 11 Oct) – which has plunged half the city into darkness – has been caused by an explosion at the 275kv Klaarwater major substation, according to eThekwini Municipality. (Wed 12 Oct: See Update at bottom of page.) The Municipality said the explosion resulted in “widespread power outage to […]

Although the area is notorious for violence and assassinations, there are many residents working together to make it a better place. By Greg Arde and Benita Enoch. In the shack lands of Cato Manor in Durban, everything is a hustle. If you want to find a room, you have to know someone. If you want to […]

Incredible drone footage (watch below) has captured the scene as a pod of dolphins appear to chase a Great White away from Plettenberg Bay, where two fatal shark attacks have taken place this year, the most recent just over a fortnight ago. Thirty-eight year old Cape Town mom and restaurant owner Kimon Bisogno was tragically […]

According to the DA, there are 229 “desperate” South African students studying in Russia who had until Monday 10 October 2022 to pay outstanding accommodation and tuition fees, or face the risk of being homeless in not just a foreign country, but a foreign country at war. The DA says this comes after the Mpumalanga Department […]

National Hawks Head Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya has lauded the seizure of a firearms cache and arrest of 20 suspects linked to illegal mining during an operation at a mine shaft in Stilfontein in the North West. Lebeya on Monday hailed the operation, warning that these measures were “only just the beginning”. In a continuous […]

Looking up at the moon in the night sky, you would never imagine that it is slowly moving away from Earth. But we know otherwise. In 1969, NASA’s Apollo missions installed reflective panels on the moon. These have shown that the moon is currently moving 3.8 cm away from the Earth every year. By Joshua […]

The seafront home of Oscar-winning director Craig Foster – whose film My Octopus Teacher won an Oscar in 2021 – burnt to the ground in a mystery fire in Simon’s Town, South Africa, on Thursday. Coincidentally, it was just two days before World Octopus Day. According to various reports, the luxury mansion was valued at […]

Loadshedding will be implemented daily at 16:00 – 00:00 (4pm to midnight) from Monday to Wednesday, Eskom announced on Sunday. The power utility says it endeavouring to “limit load-shedding to night-time to have minimal impact on the economy and population.” “The loadshedding will be used to replenish emergency generation reserves during the night to bolster […]

Die Antwoord is a South African band that uses hip-hop music to create a style it calls “zef”. Since it first appeared in 2009, Die Antwoord has been criticised for cultural appropriation (using cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative way). It’s accused of copying the lyrics and styles of Cape Town artists […]

The Ukrainian woman, Anichka Penev (35), who was kidnapped in Cape Town, South Africa, just over a week ago has been safely found and reunited with her family. A video of her terrifying abduction on 29 September went viral. The incident occurred on Ipswich Street Blackheath, in front of Nioro Plastics, a plastic bottle manufacturing […]

The DA has made an urgent call to the Northern Cape government to support firefighting initiatives in the Kalahari region with airplanes and helicopters. (Watch video below.) The desperate plea has come from firefighting teams that have been battling raging fires in the area between Kuruman and Danielskuil, Kuruman and Kathu, and in the Lohatlha […]

The man said he was arrested at a roadblock in April 2020 while transporting his sick son to a doctor. By Tania Broughton. An Eastern Cape father has been awarded damages of R240,000. The man was arrested and detained by police for 40 hours for breaking lockdown rules while driving his sick son to a doctor. […]

South African National Parks (SANParks) has urged tourists to use other entrance gates into the Kruger National Park (KNP) following the recent attack on a group of four German tourists – and fatal killing of one of them – who were on their way to Numbi Gate on Monday afternoon. SANParks Acting CEO Ms Hapiloe […]

REUTERS – Thirty-four people were killed in Thailand on Thursday (October 6) in a gun and knife attack at a daycare center by a former policeman who killed his wife and child before turning his weapon on himself, police said. The gunman was identified by police as 34-year-old Panya Kamrab who killed himself and his […]

Load shedding in South Africa has been reduced to Stage 3 from this morning until 5am on Saturday morning, following the recovery of some generating units at Eskom. The power utility says the continuation of load shedding is necessary for further replenishing of reserves. Some 6 647MW is currently unavailable due to planned maintenance with […]

Police in Mpumalanga have taken three people in for questioning in relation to the gruesome murder of a German tourist in White River on Monday afternoon, Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed during a visit to the scene of the crime on Wednesday. They are co-operating. Cele was accompanied by Police National Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, […]