So here’s one of those emails doing the rounds that’s full of all the good stuff that makes us so proud to be South African. But before you rush off to quote all these great claims to your overseas friends, please bear in mind they may not all be quite as true as we’d like […]

  Winnie Madikizela-Mandela felt particularly close to her jailed husband, Nelson, in October 1970, after she was released from serving 491 days in solitary confinement. She wrote to him on 26 October, saying: “In a way during the past two years I felt so close to you. It was the first time we were together in […]

When South African low-fi filmmaker Sibs Shongwe-La Mer stood up on stage at TEDx Johannesburg, a conference where creative minds gather to share ideas, he seized the audience’s attention by asking: “What happened to that inner child? What happened to the creative we have left to die?” The 21-year-old was referring to society’s willingness to give […]

Timing has a lot to do with being successful, says Joan Joffe, one of the most recognisable faces in South African business. “Well, you certainly caught the computer wave,” I mention to her when we meet at a Rosebank hotel. “I caught three waves!” she responds. “The PC wave, the cellphone wave and the black […]

South Africa’s Beverly Singh, an engineering graduate from Port Elizabeth, is the first recipient of the Bloodhound SSC Chevening Scholarship – she will work with the construction team on the final assembly stages of the supersonic car, while pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. Initiated in 1983, the Chevening Scholarship programme is funded by the UK […]

South Africa’s beloved statesman and father of democracy and reconciliation, Nelson Mandela or Madiba, his clan name and affectionate nickname, has many women in his life. But perhaps the three most important are his three wives, one of whom is deceased, another from whom he is divorced, and a third, his loving present wife, Graça […]

Award-winning South African author Marie Williams talks exclusively to SAPeople about love, loss, Green Goblins and discovering what makes your heart sing. Marie was recently awarded the Finch Memoir prize in Australia for GREEN VANILLA TEA, a heart-wrenching and inspiring memoir of the loss of her  husband Dom, a fellow South African. The two had […]

Cape Town is going green in more ways than one. It has a network of bicycle lanes across the city that are to be painted green to demarcate their use for bikes only. “The colour coding helps to promote safety and awareness for vehicles and pedestrians,” says the city council. It is also one of the […]

A heartbreaking song is making waves on the internet. Written and performed by South African teenager Blaise Draper, it touches the hearts of all those who’ve ever lost someone incredibly close to them. What makes Blaise’s song even more special is that it is not written for a boyfriend or conventional family member. It’s written […]

The five finalists for the 2013 Businesswoman of the Year awards are all trailblazers in their own right, forging careers in fields traditionally dominated by men. Established back in 1980, the awards are held under the auspices of the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa (BWASA), an organisation that promotes and empowers women in all spheres […]

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 […]

Take a look at this moving behind-the-scenes footage of the shooting of the first #21ICONS portrait, featuring South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela, in which Mandela admits he never thought he would ever leave prison. Scroll down for Video. The 21 Icons Global Project is the brainchild of an award-winning Australian photographer and film-maker, Adrian […]

The Ebenezer Hannah Home in Ennerdale, a suburb in the deep south of Greater Johannesburg, is one of the beneficiaries of dairy producer Clover’s empowerment project Mama Afrika. It’s also one of Brand South Africa’s CSI projects, and deservedly so. The home stands on an undeveloped piece of land just off the N1 freeway. It’s instantly visible […]

Nelson Mandela calls Qunu in the Eastern Cape home, and it is where he has asked to be buried. In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, the struggle veteran describes leaving the village as a nine-year-old, to travel with his mother to an unknown destination. “I could see the simple huts and the people going about their chores; the stream […]

President Jacob Zuma met with Academy Award-winning actor and activist Charlize Theron in Pretoria on Monday. The two discussed South Africa’s response to HIV/Aids and Theron’s role in the fight against the disease. In 2008, the United Nations named South African-born Theron as its Messenger of Peace, tasked with promoting efforts to end violence against […]

Young Dirk Coetzee from the Northern Cape province has been named the co-winner of a competition that invited children to design a helmet for Andy Green, the daredevil who will be attempting to break his own land speed record in 2014/2015 in the Bloodhound SSC (supersonic car). Driving Bloodhound, Green, a wing commander in the Royal Air Force, […]

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 […]

Nelson Mandela is regarded by many as a man of wisdom and insight – his words have touched and inspired people all around the world. Taken from Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations, we present some of the inspirational sayings by the former president that have roused and touched many internationally. The book, […]

One of South Africa’s most popular fashion value retailers, Mr Price (MRP), has gone global…now offering its popular ranges to South African expats around the world. MRP – who were voted ‘Coolest Clothing Store’ in a Sunday Times survey of local and global retailers in the South African market – will now be available online […]

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 […]

Five cool young South African surfers are in hot contest to compete in the International Final of the Quiksilver Pro France 2013. All they need is votes…and the one with the most votes for the region of Africa will go through to the King of the Groms Godfathers voting panel, where the final regional selections […]

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 […]

An impala being chased by two cheetahs made a wise move – he jumped through the window into a tourist’s car to take cover! The adventure, which took place in the Kruger National Park, was caught on video by a couple of South African girls on holiday. The impala (and the rest of the herd) […]

An Australian newspaper caused outrage yesterday by publishing an article that brandished the headline “Beware, the Brits are about to become unbearable”. The article – written by Candace Sutton – is both provocative and tongue-in-cheek…acknowledging the Brits have a lot to be proud of lately (a soon-to-be royal birth, Wimbledon win and Tour de France […]