South Africans Misty and Dylan Weyer received a warm welcome at Cape Point on 1 November after completing a gruelling two-month mountain biking trip along the Dragon’s Spine – from Beitbridge, southern Zimbabwe, to Cape Town’s Cape Point, via neighbouring Lesotho – to raise funds for children with cerebral palsy. The couple, who hails from […]

The award-winning Elelwani, the world’s first Tshivenda-language feature film, will have a special run at Johannesburg’s Cinema Nouveau from 1 to 7 November before opening in South African cinemas in January. The November run will ensure that the film can be considered for next year’s South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas), says Helen Kuun, chief […]

Three South Africans are in the top 10 of the overall rankings of the Fina Swimming World Cup after back-to-back events in Dubai and Doha, which ended on Monday, with Chad le Clos in first place. The 21-year-old from Durban enjoys a convincing lead at the top of the standings, with 332 points to his […]

Tucker Vorster and Japie De Klerk are on cloud nine after both players received a call from South African Davis Cup captain, John-Laffnie De Jager, requesting their availability for the forthcoming Davis Cup tie against Russia. Vorster and De Klerk jetted into the Russian capital on Sunday with the rest of the South African Davis […]

The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has unveiled the nominees for the 41st International Emmy Awards, and two popular South African shows are on the list. SA represents Nominated in the comedy category the satirical news series Late Nite News (LNN) is in its eighth season. The show is hosted by stand-up comedian, Loyiso Gola, and […]

A team of South African scientists and international collaborators has discovered the first evidence of a comet entering Earth’s atmosphere and exploding, “raining down a shock-wave of fire which obliterated every life form in its path”, Johannesburg’s Wits University announced on Tuesday. According to the university, the discovery “has not only provided the first definitive […]

South African paddlers excelled at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Copenhagen on the weekend, with Hank McGregor and Andy Birkett both claiming titles. They were not alone in standing out, however, with two silver medals also being won, while in the Masters World Championships, which preceded the elite competition, South Africa came away […]

A nine-foot (three-metre) statue of Nelson Mandela – showing him with fist raised as he walked out of Victor Verster prison a free man on 11 February 1990 – was unveiled outside the entrance to South Africa’s embassy in Washington, DC on Saturday. The statue, a copy of one that stands outside the Drakenstein Correctional […]

A powerful South African team will mount a serious challenge for medals at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships, which start in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday and run through until Sunday. The K1 battle will see 35-year-old Hank McGregor, a two-time K1 world champion and former under-18 K1 world champ going up against his protege […]

South Africa’s Olympic sailors made an impressive return to the podium, claiming bronze in the SB20 World Championships in France over the weekend. London Olympians Roger Hudson and Asenathi Jim joined forces with Sibu Sizatu and Wadi Xamimpi to claim two race wins, one second-place and three third-place finishes during the week-long competition in Hyeres. […]

Local designer David Tlale is jetting off to New York again this week to participate in the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, his third show at this event – and he is the only South African designer to have appeared at it. “Renowned for his undeniable knack for showmanship and elaborate designs, Tlale’s work is both […]

It all started with the murder of Mike Thomson, a Computershare executive, in his home in September 2007. From that tragedy came the Mike Thomson Change a Life Cycle Tour, which is now in its sixth year. Some 70 company executives will be pulling on their Lycra and helmets on 7 September in Swaziland, from where they […]

Dr Mo Ibrahim, businessman, academic and philanthropist, delivered the 11th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the University of South Africa (Unisa) in Pretoria on 17 August 2013. He joins luminaries such as former US president Bill Clinton, former Irish president Mary Robinson, and Nobel laureate, the late Wangari Maathai, who have all shared their opinion on important […]

The courageous women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against pass laws were honoured for their contribution in a colourful ceremony on the same day 57 years later, in Tshwane. These days, 9 August is National Women’s Day, and although its aim is to contribute to the empowerment of […]

Women’s Day, celebrated every year on 9 August, and the annual activities around it honour all the women who, through the years, have led South Africa out of colonialism and apartheid and into democracy. Women’s Month 2013 marks the 57th anniversary of the famous 1956 anti-pass march, which saw over 20 000 women, led by struggle […]

Like having babies, you forget the pain, says super athlete Jeannie Dreyer, referring to her astonishing first-place finish in the 2 300km Freedom Challenge mountain bike race. The route starts in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, and ends in Wellington in Western Cape, and takes place at the end of June. Thirty-three-year-old Jeannie, a housewife and mother of two […]

South African surf legend Shaun Tomson is launching his new book – The Code, the Power of ‘I Will’ – in California this week.  The code is a simple strategy for confronting everyday challenges and making positive, life-changing decisions. In the book, Shaun uses twelve of his personal stories to share the power of “I […]

President Zuma has announced that he will mark Nelson Mandela Day – on Thursday, 18 July – by officially handing over houses to the community of Danville, Pretoria West. Now the rest of us aren’t expected to do something quite like that, but we should each do something. And preferably we should do that something […]

Strictly Come Dancing kicked off to a scintillating start on Wednesday 10 July in South Africa…with its two new hosts – globally-adored comedian Marc Lottering, and popular South African TV presenter/actress/DJ Pabi Moloi. The show, which is based on a BBC format and aired in over 40 countries, is brought to South African screens by […]

The first time Kesivan Naidoo saw Nelson Mandela on television was 23 years ago, when the former president was released from prison. The jazz drummer was just 10 years old at the time and was oblivious to how that moment, 11 February 1990, would shape the way he made music in his adult life. Now […]

Dewald van Dyk’s shoes lie in the murky depths of Westdene Dam in Johannesburg. They have been there since 1985, when he dived into the dark waters again and again to pull out children whose school bus went into the dam. Van Dyk was a paramedic at the time, and he was part of the […]

Commemorative events will take place in Alexandra township, the suburb of Westdene in north-western Johannesburg, and Soweto, where the original uprising began. Johannesburg’s executive mayor Parks Tau will unveil a plaque early on the morning of 16 June after a march from the Alexandra High School to the Realugile School in Alexandra, in memory of […]

Cape Town was transformed into Winter Wonderland yesterday with a massive hail storm that left the CBD looking like it had been covered in a white carpet of snow. Before the last drop of hail had fallen, locals were already sharing photos of the magical scene on Facebook. South African cartoonist Jerm seemed to have […]

Nelson Mandela is travelling to Europe this year – multiple images of the icon will appear in Paris from 29 May to 6 July as part of the France-South Africa Seasons 2012 and 2013. “Produced by the highly regarded Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, in association with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the exhibition will celebrate Mandela’s relationship with the […]

We all give Lira and The Parlotones credit for enriching our souls with their songs. But less often do we give a thought to the songwriters and composers behind the hit makers’ music. This is the reason the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) has decided to acknowledge the creators of music in their inaugural Wawela […]