President Cyril Ramaphosa says he learnt with “great sadness” today of the passing of South Africa’s former Deputy President and former State President Frederik Willem “FW” de Klerk. The Presidency issued a statement saying: “The Former Deputy President passed away earlier today, Thursday, 11 November 2021, after an extended period of illness. He was 85 […]

With Christmas coming up, you may find yourself inadvertently breaking the law by sending cash, local face creams, biltong or jewellery to friends or family abroad. The South African Post Office (SAPO) has warned customers against posting prohibited items (see list below) overseas as it dramatically delays outgoing mail. The Post Office said there have […]

South Africa’s last white President, FW de Klerk, has passed away at the age of 85. The FW de Klerk Foundation released the following statement on his passing: It is with the deepest sadness that the FW de Klerk Foundation must announce that former President FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye […]

Suspects have made off with R200-million worth of confiscated cocaine from Hawks’ offices in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Hawks – South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) which targets organised crime and corruption – claims the incident took place sometime between Friday at 16h00 and Monday 07h00, and that their offices were ransacked. The […]

A 47-year-old Dutch tourist narrowly missed losing his testicles in South Africa, after a cobra bit him whilst he was sitting on the toilet. The snouted cobra (Naja annulifera) bit the man while he was holidaying on a nature reserve in SA. Apparently he spotted the snake at the bottom of the toilet bowl just […]

Our faulty approach to life sentences is catching up with us. Our prisons are crowded with “lifers”, at great cost to us all. By Edwin Cameron Long prison sentences – especially life sentences – are not the answer to our country’s disturbing problem of violent crime. And wrong policy on this has given us another, […]

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South African officials are investigating an alarming rise in seal deaths along the west coast near Cape Town, with malnutrition one potential cause. A Reuters photographer saw scores of seal carcasses on beaches in Cape Town and along the rugged Atlantic Ocean coastline north of the city last week. Several more […]

Shell – multinational oil and gas company – has announced it will start a seismic survey in search of oil or gas deposits from South Africa’s beautiful Morgans Bay to Port St Johns on December 1 at the earliest. The survey will include a vessel operated by Shell Exploration and Production SA’s hirelings, Shearwater GeoServices, […]

A farm attack in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), last night was allegedly ‘facilitated’ by load-shedding (electricity power cuts in South Africa). “The attack was facilitated by the Eskom load-shedding that was on at the time and which had shut down some cell phone networks where cell phone tower backup batteries had been stolen,” says Alf Lees, […]

Some staff members at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital (CMJH) in South Africa are picketing today to protest the daily thefts of their cars… which they say management is ignoring. Jack Bloom, DA Shadow Minister of Health in Gauteng says: “I have spoken to nurses who tell me that two or more cars are stolen […]

The City of Cape Town has released water quality test results for Zeekoevlei, Zandvlei, Rietvlei and Milnerton lagoon for May to October 2021. All four waterbodies have been closed to the public for months due to dangerously high levels of E. coli (a bacteria found in human faeces). The City of Cape Town has released […]

Athol Williams is a South African hero. The speaker, author and advocate – who hails from Mitchell’s Plain – was the first person to earn Masters degrees from five of the top universities in the world. He’s also an award-winning author and poet; and a passionate South African who couldn’t keep quiet when he saw […]

Durban University of Technology was forced today to close some campuses following violent “protest action” that resulted in damage to property. DUT said in a statement: “Earlier this morning, a group of protestors from a student political organisation turned extremely violent and damaged DUT property, thereby threatening and compromising the safety and security of our […]

The DA is “deeply concerned about the anti-democracy protests” in Isipingo today, says DA Durban South Constituency head, Tim Bruteseth. In a statement on Monday afternoon, Bruteseth says that it was “ANC sponsored protestors” who blocked the northern and southern end of the main arterial road running through the Isipingo CBD, about 19 km south […]

The South African Police Service (SAPS) detectives in Motherwell are investigating the tragic and mysterious death of three children aged between just four-months-old and 11-years-old… who died not long after eating two-minute noodles. It’s alleged that the children had accompanied their grandparents to New Brighton to visit relatives on Saturday. “They stayed over and on […]

Eskom has unfortunately started implementing load shedding Stage 4 in South Africa from 13:00 Monday afternoon… and Stage 4 is set to last until 05:00 on Friday, after which it will be downgraded to Stage 2 until 05:00 on Saturday. This comes after the power utility announced on Sunday that it expected to continue with […]

Energy investments will help overcome the debilitating load shedding (power cuts) that South Africa is currently experiencing, as new electricity generation capacity comes online, says President Cyril Ramaphosa. In his weekly newsletter to the country, the President said that energy continues to be an area of growth in South Africa as the 25 preferred bidders […]

South Africa’s famous and ultra-luxurious Blue Train has derailed. The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning at Union Station in Elandsfontein, near Germiston, Gauteng. Fortunately there were no passengers on board. Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) confirmed that 19 empty coaches of one of the Blue Trains derailed at the Union Station Loop […]

Eskom has announced that “regretfully” Stage 2 loadshedding – which is just a pretty word for rolling power cuts – will continue throughout the week ahead from 05:00 on Monday until 05:00 on Saturday. Since the power system remains “volatile and unpredictable”, Eskom cautioned that “higher stages of loadshedding may be required” (as happened last […]

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma has admitted that today’s Twenty20 World Cup match brought a bittersweet ending for the South African team who gave it their all, won against England, but lost the chance to go through to the semi-finals. Speaking from Sharjah, in the UAE, today, Bavuma said: “A bittersweet ending for us. We achieved […]

Former South African police woman Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu has been given six life sentences for the murder of five of her relatives as well as her partner. Ndlovu (known as Rosemary Ndlovu) was defiant throughout the three-month trial, accusing many of the 50 witnesses of lying, insulting journalists, constantly claiming to be ill, and lifting […]

For South Africans who groaned when Stage Two load shedding was implemented on Friday morning, things got a little worse this afternoon as Eskom implemented Stage Four power cuts from 2pm. The loadshedding has been caused by “numerous issues” and further shutdowns at power stations. Total breakdowns have cost the grid at least 17 000MW […]

Montgomery Brewster, played by Richard Pryor in the 1985 movie Brewster’s Millions, runs for mayor of New York with the twist that he asks his supporters to vote for None of the Above… By GroundUp Editors None of the Above is arguably the winner of South Africa’s 2021 local election. But in contrast to the […]

Cape Town (Nov. 4, 2021) – A shocking undercover investigation recently conducted in Iowa, USA, by Humane Society International (HSI)and the Humane Society of the United States found what they say can only be described as a “massive garbage bin of the trophy hunting industry”. A four-day event was held where thousands of taxidermised animals […]

In one of those classic ‘only in South Africa’ moments, a couple of motorists were shocked to find a car in front of them driving along with a supermarket trolley in place of a wheel! South Africans are renowned worldwide for their entrepreneurial skills and unique solutions – remember, it was a South African who […]