In one of the funniest SA’s Got Talent moments this season, a Soweto-born and Sandton-raised comedian (therefore, as he says, “technically a coconut”) secured three ‘yes’ votes with the following stand-up routine. Thirty-year-old Mum-Z, who works in advertising and does comedy on the side, didn’t hold back in highlighting the advantages of being a ‘coconut’ […]

The ‘South Africa’s Got Talent’ audience was on its feet Sunday night when DJ Arch Junior, all of three years old, took to a digital music deck and handled the jog wheels and transport controls like a pro. Oratilwe Hlongwane from Alexandra township has reached the semifinals of the show’s national competition. He’s the youngest person to have ever been on the […]

As African authors get more and more publicity and prizes – as well as readers – they are becoming must-haves on bookshelves worldwide. Some are already known as African by their subject matter as well as their names (Nigerians Chigozie Obioma, the youngest ever nominee for a Booker, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). But here are a couple […]

Charlie Simpson, the British singer who busted up his band Busted, is in the news for rejoining the band, but it’s his collaboration with a group of San Bushmen that has got us tapping our feet to the unforgettable beat. It’s great! The song ‘Walking with the San’ was played last week on the show ‘Singing in […]

In the United States they have been doing it for years, taking a night off to ‘roast’ – basically make fun of (in the harshest possible way) – a famous person. Anyone who has seen Amy Schumer’s infamous roast of Charlie Sheen knows that to be roasted is pretty much to be gutted. In 2012 […]

JOHANNESBURG – A brouhaha seems to be building up again over a satirical artwork depicting President Jacob Zuma’s penis, and the government has already condemned the work. The cartoon by Anton Kannemeyer shows a giant black penis and scrotum hovering above a group of angry black demonstrators carrying a banner that demands, “Respect for the president’s […]

If you missed the Thursday night episode of ‘The Daily Show’, the audience got a lesson in African presidents, thanks to new host Trevor Noah, who was comparing US presidential candidate Donald Trump to Jacob Zuma, Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin and Muammar Gaddafi, among others. With the subheading ‘Orange is the new Black’ – and […]

Just great, so far. Yes, Trevor Noah seems to have taken to hosting the ‘Daily Show’ in the United States almost as if he was to the manor – or should that be the manner? – born. In the weeks leading up to his takeover of the show from Jon Stewart after 16 years, many […]

Following the success earlier this year of ‘The Endless River’  at two major international film festivals, two new South African movies are making their marks on doing likewise. ‘For Love and Broken Bones’, directed by Tebogo Malope, and Sara Blecher’s ‘Ayanda’ – which premiered in South Africa last night – both come short on the heels of Cape Town […]

Following the devastating fires that ravaged the Southern Cape Peninsular in March this year, the flora is blooming and a new book, “The Cape Aflame” has been launched. The book features more than 200 iconic photographs by some of South Africa’s top professional and amateur photographers. “The Cape Aflame” tells the story of the Muizenberg Fire with first-hand accounts […]

The first YouTube video gained fame – or rather, infamy – for the American (possibly a schoolgirl) who thought England was a planet and couldn’t understand why a British person was changing a dollar figure into a weight (pounds). Now comes even more infamy as growing YouTube comedy vlogger Maxim Bady takes her on. In the first […]

Since Trevor Noah has left our shores and is gearing up to take the helm of America’s ‘The Daily Show’ on Monday, here’s a random selection of other South African comedians – the new, the old and the beloved – who are sure to keep us entertained! Some of these comedians will also be performing at an international comedy festival in […]

If you’re overseas and missing your fellow South Africans on Heritage Day, check out this live video feed that’ll transport you to the Heritage Voëlvry Festival in Stellenbosch! The broadcast has been provided by Scatzy, which supplies a Video on Demand service to expats around the world. To view earlier footage, click here. Entertainers have included Gereformeerde […]

The Cape Town-born director of a play written by a Zimbabwean and starring an Oscar-winning Kenyan for a prestigious New York theatre has told a U.S. newspaper that she was adamant about having African actresses in the play and that it was very difficult for her to watch non-Africans play Africans. “We see a lot of depictions […]

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 […]

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 […]

The first official trailer from ‘The Jungle Book’ has been extremely well received around the world, including in South Africa where it is trending in the Top 10 on Twitter. Since Disney uploaded the video to YouTube yesterday, it has received over 2 million views, and is being touted as “wild”, “spectacular”, “terrifying” and “fantastic” […]

This is no five-step waltz, no quadrille, and by no means is it a cakewalk. It’s more like a cactus tango or a dusty Jitterbug, this Nama Riel dance they do so well out here in the Northern Cape Karoo. It’s ‘Stomp the Yard’ in Calvinia, Williston, Brandvlei and beyond. The cheering crowd forms a square […]

The partly South African-produced movie ‘Remember’, about a man who discovers that the Nazi who killed his family during the war is alive in the United States and goes to find him, received a 10-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week. ‘Remember’ – which was co-produced by renowned South African […]

ZA News, the satirical puppet company in Cape Town, has created a Suzelle-type DIY video, ‘Su-Zuma DIY’, lampooning the controversy over Jacob Zuma’s residence at Nkandla and called “How to Renovate Your Home for Next to Nothing.” Watch the ZA News video – Su-Zuma DIY – below (or larger version above).

The profits of Taylor Swift’s latest music video “Wildest Dreams,” which debuted at the Video Music Awards (VMA) Awards on Sunday – and has already been viewed 14 million times – will go to African conservation. The money garnered by the video will go to the Africa Parks of America organisation, which partners with governments throughout Africa […]

Africa’s stories are being retold in a modern format, from an African perspective, to an audience who may not know them…from the founding of Botswana by King Khama III to the bravery of Bilal Ibn Rabah and the quest of Adama in a foreign, war-torn land. African history is about to get a reboot in one […]

Along the coast of South Africa from Cape Town to Durban, South African sand artists have been raising awareness about Africa’s wildlife and the poaching crisis…so that the photos international tourists take back home with them, carry this important message to the rest of the world. The beach sculptors are famous for creating newsworthy masterpieces – from the […]

A family taking a stroll in the Mafube Mountain Retreat, between Clarens and Fouriesburg in the Eastern Free State, stumbled across a wonderful treasure today. Duncan Irvine, owner of Rapid Blue production company (with hits like Strictly Come Dancing), uploaded a photo to Facebook with this message: “Out for a walk on our farm and our […]