With news that a Spur restaurant is opening in New Zealand, South African expats in and around Auckland have expressed joy… while some South Africans back home have (jokingly!) pointed out that it will make last year’s brilliant advert – in which South African rugby players enjoyed a “distinct advantage” over the Kiwis” – no longer […]

South African billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has been featured by the wildly popular ‘Humans of New York’, alongside his model mother – and date for the evening – at the New York Met Gala. Instead of the interview that usually accompanies his photos, ‘Humans of New York’ photographer Brandon Stanton instead posted an insightful quote from Elon’s […]

Maybe Home Affairs in South Africa could learn a thing or two from Australia’s tough Agriculture and Water Resources department. This is how you get a message out to the world about your country’s laws – enlist a law-breaking Hollywood actress and her famous husband to make an apology video! While many South Africans have been stopped at Australia’s border […]

Sports enthusiast Princess Charlene of Monaco was at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday to watch Rafael Nadal win his ninth Monte-Carlo crown. The former South African Olympic swimmer, who was born in Zimbabwe and moved to Benoni when she was 11, accompanied her husband Prince Albert II to the match… on a day that marks the […]

When Winter comes around in the Northern Hemisphere, we Southern Africans don’t know exactly how to cope with the spine chilling weather and that weird icy stuff these people call snow. I grew up in Swaziland, was at boarding school in South Africa, and now find myself in Geneva… so lately I’ve been taking what you could […]

South African actress, Hollywood star and Oscar winner Charlize Theron remembered the folks back home when accepting her Best Female Performance award at the MTV Movie Awards last night. The 40-year-old was presented with the award for her brilliant portrayal of Imperator Furiosa in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. After thanking director George Miller, the film’s incredible […]

Proving old friendships never die, a South African expat living in Canada has offered her kidney to her former schoolmate in Johannesburg, whom she hasn’t seen for decades. And together they are now on a journey to make sure Di gets the kidney she desperately needs, and that awareness is raised about live kidney donations. […]

The Brothers Streep have released a lighthearted fun song – “Let’s Go To London”… where they leave South Africa’s currently ‘bleak’ shores for the so-called greener pastures in London…but they don’t stay too long… The song ends with the words: “We made a mistake, South Africa’s great / It’s got problems, but it’s not too late […]

Like many expats, although Susanna van Aswegen left South Africa when she was only nine, she will forever share “a special and unbreakable bond” with the country…as can be seen in this video. The twenty-year-old filmed the following footage – a love letter of sorts – on a recent holiday to South Africa. Her mother Christa told SAPeople: […]

Inspired by Durban’s humble bunny chow – a curry served in a hollowed-out loaf of bread – the Full English Bunny, which was last year named the winner of the Innovative Breakfast award category in the British Best Breakfast Awards, continues its popularity in the UK for those who fancy their breakfast in bread! And along with […]

South Africans can now apply for their Smart ID Card and Passport online, thanks to a collaboration between the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and four major banks – ABSA, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank. However there are no plans just yet to roll it out for South Africans abroad (see below.) President Jacob Zuma officially launched […]

In an interview in the UK’s Guardian newspaper this weekend, Trevor Noah hit back at critics of his Daily Show, saying the show is still in its infancy and is attracting a vital new audience. Noah told journalist Lanre Bakare: “I’m a baby in this thing. I’m flattered by the fact people judge me as […]

So what do South Africans miss when living abroad? For a start – “Your mother” (Jou ma…) insults will never quite have the same level of burn. 1. South Africans miss a proper “braai” The crackling of fire. The delicious aroma of flavours. The biltong starters. The general lack of excuse needed to have a […]

According to a website survey, almost two thirds of South Africans living abroad are generally satisfied with their new life, although only 10 percent are ‘very satisfied’…and many admitted missing their personal support network and finding romantic relationships difficult. The findings in InterNations second annual ExpatInsider survey found that South Africans are more likely than most expats […]

South African expat Deborah Pead could just be one of the most influential women in New Zealand! On Saturday the New Zealand Herald featured an interview with the public relations guru, headlined “Is this Auckland’s most influential woman?” The article in the paper’s Canvas magazine asks “How did an expat South African PR dynamo become one of […]

A few days ago ‘The Australian’, a nationwide newspaper in Australia, shared a compilation of stunning aerial footage of Cape Town’s coast, generating an influx of comments from South Africans living Down Under and back home. While there were those who got involved in a heated debate over the current state of the city and country, […]

PRETORIA – The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department has called on international travellers, who will be visiting South Africa during the Easter holidays, to comply with the country’s import requirements for agricultural and related regulated products. “Compliance will assist our country in preventing and/or minimising the potential risk of introducing alien invasive species, foreign pests and […]

Anyone watching news reports in England, the US or Australia these days might be struck by a growing phenomenon – South African accents. More and more journalists from South Africa are either taking the anchor seat on leading international news programmes or reporting for them from hot spots around the world. Whether it’s on an […]

Last month a new musical came to London’s West End – the much anticipated Broadway hit, Motown the Musical. And, in a starring role – as Marvin Gaye – is South Africa’s very own Sifiso Mazibuko. When the box office opened for the London debut of Motown the Musical last May, Shaftesbury Theatre in Covent Garden […]

HAYLEY REICHERT, renowned in the UK as one of the most passionately South African South Africans you’ll ever meet, this week sent out an emotional cry for help for the family of a fellow SA mom’s tragic plight – Tania Harms was placed in an induced coma, at just 28 weeks pregnant. Writing on Facebook, […]

Australia will be televising a Canal Plus documentary on Monday night that exposes the game hunting industry in South Africa, where hunting often takes place in fenced off private reserves leaving the animals – who have sometimes been tranquillised or tamed (even bred for the purpose, otherwise known as ‘canned hunting’) – trapped with little or […]

There’s something so exquisitely special about South Africa that creeps into your soul…and never leaves. We all know it. Those South Africans who can never tear themselves away because their roots run too deep. Those expats who have left but who see visions of ‘home’ wherever they look – in potholes, tea stains and the […]

South African golfer Ernie Els was jumping for joy on Monday, when Rickie Fowler hit a brilliant hole-in-one on a bonus hole to earn Els’ autism foundation a whopping one million dollar donation from sponsors at a charity event in Florida! The event took place at Palm Beach Gardens in the USA, where Els has […]

South Africans Stephen and Laura Kramer relocated to Melbourne, Australia, 20 years ago where they both work as vets. They’re back on holiday in South Africa…and loving it. With the hugest respect to all our Aussie mates (and Kiwis too!), here’s a blog Stephen wrote at the weekend for his daughter back in Australia… “Ok Manda, here’s the travel […]

After public outrage, world headlines, a petition and relentless support from her barrister, 92-year-old Myrtle Cothill is now allowed to remain in the UK with her daughter. Her barrister, Jan Doerfel, posted the following message to the petition page on Change.org today: “Right in time for [UK] Mother’s Day, we have been told by the Home Office that the original […]