For those who haven’t visited Durban for a while – it’s changed. And for the better! Durban’s beachfront has been undergoing a wonderful transformation with a beach promenade, revegatation programme, increased security and a tighter rein on litter. Local resident Richard Cousens, who took these photographers of Durban beachfront at dawn says “the best thing that […]

Mango Groove has been forced to cancel their forthcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, leaving band members John Leyden “gutted” and Claire Johnston “disappointed beyond words”. Leyden, guitarist and founder of the South African band, said: “What can I say? We are gutted. We have been looking forward to this tour for many months now, […]

The other day I wrote a piece explaining why I had voted for Agang SA’s Mamphela Ramphele, and why I was glad for having done so despite her party’s poor showing in the polls. I argued that small parties can do good work and that somebody of her calibre could play a meaningful role in South African politics. […]

The following blog post, written by TGIF’s Thorsten Marbach, was shared by a few of his friends on Facebook yesterday. It’s a message for all South Africans. Thorsten,  a thought-leader who talks every Friday at a Seattle coffee shop in Johannesburg, wrote: With the elections over, do we settle down to outsourcing the leadership of our nation […]

A semi-retired South African expat has stepped up to become an unlikely hero in the Ukraine where he is working tirelessly to rescue thousands of zoo animals – affected by the revolution – from starving to death. Lionel de Lange (48), who has lived in the Ukraine since 2006 and still has a business in South […]

Judge Thokozile Masipa today ruled that Oscar Pistorius must be referred for 30-day psychiatric evaluation following Monday’s evidence from forensic psychiatrist Dr Merryll Vorster that he may suffer from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Called by the defence, Dr Vorster testified that GAD might have played a role in Oscar’s actions when he shot and killed […]

I remember the first time I voted. It was in Grahamstown in 1994. I had just got married for the first time and we returned from honeymoon to cast our votes at the City Hall in the heart of Settler Country. Just like everywhere else, the crowd was festive: South Africa was having one of those […]

Advocate Gerrie Nel told the court he would tomorrow apply for Oscar to be referred for 30-days’ mental observation. This twist came after defence advocate Barry Roux called forensic psychiatrist Merryll Vorster to testify in Oscar’s murder trial. Roux’s intention was to bring to the court’s attention psychiatric factors that might be of relevance during […]

In April 2013 South African journalist Rowan Philp, who was based in Boston USA at the time, wrote an article for the Mail & Guardian about the very many successful South African expats in the USA and their incredible contribution to the rest of the world. The article was popular and before you could say ‘social […]

A South African by the name of Mandy (or Mando as they like to say in Australia) has proved to Australian radio listeners that the South African accent CAN be sexy! And that South African women aren’t shy! Popular Aussie Radio DJ Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross, who presents the afternoon ‘Rosso on Drive’ show on KIIS106.5 […]

For everyone’s sake, let’s hope the trial winds down soon. What started off as a showcase of our legal expertise has turned into Comedy Central. In a nutshell, this was the week that: • The father and daughter who were first on the scene said Oscar was screaming, crying and praying; • Reeva’s ‘best friend’ […]

The final results of the 2014 South African Elections have been announced by the IEC tonight. A record 29 parties contested the 2014 Elections, of which 13 received enough votes to secure representation in National Assembly. As predicted, the majority party in South Africa’s fifth National Assembly is the African National Congress (ANC), with a […]

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Well, Mother’s Day to be exact! Us guys who live in the UK thought we’d already adequately fulfilled our obligations for Mother’s Day on 30 March. Cards, coffee mugs, flowers, you name it, we bought it. Little did we know that the UK is one of the only places in the world that […]

This is dedicated to all mothers, young and old – how very special you are! To the tune of “Let it Be” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney When I find myself in times of trouble My mother’s words come back to me Faith will find the answer, wait and see At times when friends don’t understand me Her […]

Unfortunately the votes from four overseas cities have not been counted as they did not reach South Africa before the IEC’s deadline of 9 pm tonight. The four cities are: Toronto, Havanna, Madrid and Lubumbashi. According to a message on Vote Home SA’s Facebook page: “Please note that this was due to the votes being […]

The international votes are in with an overwhelming majority win for the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA has won 84.44 % of the international votes, with the African National Congress (ANC) in second position with 8.32%. There was a total of 18,132 valid overseas votes with 15,311 of these being for the DA, and  1,508 for the ANC. Agang, […]

As news comes this afternoon that the Nigerian Government apparently knew of Boko Haram’s planned kidnapping of over 240 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok…but failed to act, we publish (with permission) South African businessman and commentator Tshepo Motsitsi’s take on the lack of response from foreign governments  to try to rescue these girls. Two hours ago Amnesty International announced that: […]

#Elections2014 is done and dusted. The hashtag is, of course, by now de rigeur – these were the social media elections and Facebook and Twitter, blogs, followers, likes and trends are now as important as traditional media in defining the conversation. With over 95% of the vote now counted, it is clear that the African […]

While we await the final voting results, and in the light of Julius Malema’s EFF party coming third in the South African Elections after gaining over 6 % of the total votes so far, here’s a poem: An ode to F! (musings on a possible South African pop opera…) To the tune of “Yesterday” by the Beatles. […]

Lisa Ashton, CEO and founder of The Winnie Mabaso Foundation, is outraged by a luxury resort in South Africa offering a “Shanty Town” experience to local and overseas visitors. Here she explains why in an open letter to readers everywhere: FROM LISA ASHTON: Yesterday as South Africans all over the country cast their vote I was reminded of many […]

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced tonight that so far 17,906 votes from South African overseas have been counted. These votes have been captured by 106 foreign missions. The IEC is still awaiting the final votes from a remaining 10 missions. These need to be received by 9pm tomorrow night. The IEC said […]

South Africans awoke to the news that with just shy of a third of the votes counted, AgangSA and all the small parties with the exception of Julius Malema’s new Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, had surprised on the downside and the country had moved inexorably closer to becoming a two-party democracy. AgangSA, whose leader […]

Updated 8.35 pm, Friday 9 May 2014: Provisional results of the 2014 South African Elections are almost complete. As predicted the country’s ruling party – the African National Congress (ANC) – took an early lead with 59.09% of the votes by 11.15 pm last night, and by midnight had already surpassed the 10,000 mark vote tally. By 8.35 pm […]

Here’s a great guide to computer lingo in South African terms, from an email doing the rounds… Log On – Make the braai hotter Log Off – The braai is too hot Monitor – Keeping an eye on the braai Download – Get the firewood off the bakkie Hard drive – Trip back home without any […]

You’ve got to love South Africa and South Africans! Even though some of the queues at voting stations are seemingly endless, the locals who’ve lined up have turned the delays into a social gathering and are making the most of their day off (which is a public holiday in the country). Jarrod Aston said that […]