Travel experts have welcomed the announcement by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa that tourists from all countries will be welcomed to SA’s sunny shores with an amendment to the Alert Level 1 lockdown rule that had certain high risk countries placed on a banned ‘red list’. Addressing the nation on Wednesday evening, the President said: […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa proudly announced on Wednesday evening that a local South African company has entered into a preliminary agreement with multinational firm Johnson & Johnson, as one of the companies to manufacture and package its candidate COVID-19 vaccine. “In recognition of the country’s manufacturing capability, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world, […]

Mongameli Bobani, the controversial former mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, has died after being admitted to hospital with COVID three weeks ago. Bantu Holomisa, the leader of the United Democratic Movement, released a statement this evening confirming Bobani’s passing. Bobani was ousted in a no-confidence debate last December, and the city has sat without a […]

One of new blue commuter trains that are being rolled out – very slowly – in a few parts of the country was spotted today on the iconic False Bay line running from Muizenberg to Simonstown. The False Bay line is one of the most gorgeous routes in the world, running on the coast, but […]

Researchers from the HIV Prevention Trials Network have announced a “breakthrough” in the prevention of HIV in women. Wits researchers have announced a “breakthrough” in HIV prevention in women An injection every eight weeks was found to be much more effective than a daily pill The trials were conducted in seven African countries and included […]

This has to be one of the week’s most powerful videos, the moment a former Prima ballerina – suffering from Alzheimers – hears the music to Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake and begins to dance in her wheelchair, automatically connected to the music and to her graceful movements from decades ago. “Grab a tissue, brace yourself for […]

German biotech company BioNTech and US pharmaceutical Pfizer announced on Monday promising early results from their phase 3 clinical trial for a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. (See main points at bottom of article.) These early results are what is known as an “interim analysis”. It’s an early look at the data […]

South Africa’s Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa has congratulated Master KG on winning the Best African Act Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs). “We are exceptionally proud of Master KG, who took home top honours to win the coveted Best African Act Award at the MTV EMAs,” the Minister said. […]

There has been a flood of photos, videos, memes and quotes by Kamala Harris (56) going viral on social media since the announcement that, according to projections, Joe Biden will be the next President of the USA and Kamala his vice-president. But there is one in particular that is being shared worldwide… a reminder that […]

While some South Africans have taken offence to a video clip that’s been going viral for months, showing an impassioned young Joe Biden in 1986 pleading for support for South Africans suffering under apartheid, most have welcomed the video as a sign of Biden’s pro-equality stance and his genuine care for the wellbeing of not […]

South Africans have been excited to discover that through Melissa Cohen Biden they may have a close link to the White House if Joe Biden wins the US Election (as has been projected). It turns out Melissa Cohen is Joe’s daughter-in-law, wife of his son Hunter, and a South African expat from Johannesburg. The 33-year-old, […]

The now famous chacma baboon Kataza, who made headlines after he was controversially removed from his troupe in Kommetjie, Cape Town, is to be returned home after the city was taken to court by a concerned citizen, Ryno Engelbrecht. The relocation of the male baboon in late August caused a huge outcry and locals started […]

As the countdown continues for the Metrorail divisions in the Western Cape and Gauteng to roll out the new commuter trains, the blue EMUs, the latest few sets have passed through Kimberley and Matjiesfontein – an unusual sight, because only long-distance trains usually pass here – on its way from the factory in Gauteng to […]

Patricia Anne MacDonald got a surprise during Lockdown when, at around 2.30am one night in July, she realised that the sound of creaking trees and branches breaking at her home in Cape Vidal, South Africa, was not the wind! It was elephant! “I must admit,” she told SAPeople. “It was quite scary at the time. […]

South Africa’s High Commissioner to the UK, Nomatemba Tambo, has reassured concerned South Africans in the UK that the appointment system will remain in place during Lockdown, despite the SAHC’s earlier pinned post on Facebook announcing the Embassy’s closure for the UK’s second lockdown, and that all appointment services were to be closed. Ms Tambo […]

On Tuesday the SA Weather Service predicted that a fresh fall of thunder showers and rain would occur over much of southern Africa in the coming days – and today saw it come true. From Bela Bela to Bloemfontein to Oudtshoorn to farmland in the Free State recently burnt by protesters, it has been a […]

Just over two weeks since Pretoria father Wayne Giles was shot by armed robbers outside a restaurant in Gauteng, because he wouldn’t give them his cellphone, he has sent this heartfelt message to friends, family and strangers – both in SA and South African expats abroad – who rallied together to help a man described […]

Multi-award winning chef Chantel Dartnall last night added another award to her collection, scooping the Best Chef for 2020 award at the annual Hosco Luxe Restaurant Awards. Unsurprisingly, her restaurant, Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient, also walked away with top prize for 2020’s Best Restaurant. A delighted Chantel said: “At Restaurant Mosaic, we pride ourselves […]

Thanks to a team of kind and caring human beings in South Africa, two rhinos that were orphaned after losing their mothers to poachers, have been returned to the wild. Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Justin Sullivan filmed the moving journey these two rhino ‘best friends’ were taken on in order to release them into the Greater […]

A group of 15 homeless men have transformed a plot of land behind Durban’s famous beachfront Elangeni Hotel into a “booming” farm in just a few months… and become one of SA’s best feel good stories. It all began at the start of lockdown when some men at eThekwini Municipality’s homeless shelter in North Beach […]

After sending out his CV with no luck of securing a job for six years, a Katlehong man ignored the raised eyebrows of friends and family and decided to become a waste picker. Now, Tshepo Mazibuko, 40, is the renowned owner of K1 Recycling, a township-based waste management company. SAnews met Mazibuko at his Buy-Back Centre […]

There’s welcome news for South Africans as both grades of petrol are set to decrease by 27 cents a litre from Wednesday. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on Tuesday said fuel prices for November 2020 will be adjusted as follows: Petrol (both 93 ULP and LRP) will decrease by 27c per litre; Petrol […]

It was exactly a year ago today, on 2 November 2019, when the Springboks created a story for the ages – a team battered and bruised, with very little prospect of victory at an international championship, rises from the ashes to take the coveted crown. That was the case for the Springboks in 2019 when […]

Once again, that wonderful purple/mauve month of November is on us, although the jacarandas started in October already. When Johannesburg and Pretoria have come to a glory quite unlike any other city in the world. Tokyo and Washington can boast of their cherry blossoms, but we don’t think they hold a candle to our hundreds […]

This beautiful piece of writing by Jacqui Ikin evokes all the emotions, scents and sensibility about what it means to be South African, or to visit SA… What It Means to Be South African, … a Poem by Jacqui Ikin I sit here quietly thinking about what it means to me to be South African, a visitor […]