South Africa’s Yvonne Chaka Chaka, popular singer-songwriter and Goodwill Ambassador for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, has become the first African woman to receive the World Economic Forum‘s (WEF) Crystal Award. The award is given each year to successful artists who have used their art to “improve the state of the world”, according to the WEF. […]

‘From an email doing the rounds’ Why coloureds can’t be terrorists: by MARK LOTTERING – Ons is altyd laat. We would have missed all 4 flights. – We talk loud and would bring attention to ourselves. – Met free kos en cooldrink oppie plane, we’ll sommer forget why we’re there. – We praat with our hands, […]

Three of South Africa’s top schools have made it into the 2011 Global Education and Skills: An Oxbridge Guide publication, according to a report. The guide is a collaborative effort between those old rivals, the student unions of Oxford and Cambridge universities in the UK. Its aim is to give a broad perspective of schooling around the […]

The West Coast village of Darling is hosting its annual classical festival in February 2012, but don’t expect a highbrow affair. The Darling Music Experience is shifting perceptions of classical music, giving it a contemporary feel and making the music genre more accessible to a wider audience. South Africa’s Darling The village of Darling, a quirky little […]

After many years of honing their craft, young musicians from the Pretoria-based music education organisation Music is a Great Investment (Miagi) are making their mark on the European stage. The organisation took its name from a statement made at a 2003 press briefing by its patron, the Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov, who was visiting South Africa […]

South African rock band The Parlotones will be climbing Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, as part of an awareness campaign to end violence against women and girls on the continent. The country’s best-selling rock band will join citizens and representatives from the media and civil society from 54 African countries as they aim to “Speak Out – […]

The life of Nelson Mandela has been recorded in numerous books – one of the most comprehensive is his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Now, the latest Mandela book offers an insight of a different kind – that of his culinary preferences. Xoliswa Ndoyiya, Mandela’s personal chef, has decided to reveal the former president’s best-loved dishes […]

There’s the dolos and the Kreepy Krauly, both popular and proudly South African inventions – among many more – but who knew that a South African was also responsible for the development of that magic liquid in a can, Q20? Back in 1950 in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, a certain Mr Robertson was discussing with his neighbour the wonderful new liquid […]

  Heil die leser RE: UITNODIGING AS ONDERSTEUNER VAN WACHA LIFE (www.wachalife.com) WACHA LIFE nooi u graag uit om deel te neem aan die “One  on Ten Challenge”. Vir die afgelope agtien maande is die fokus van WACHA – World Association for Child Humanitarian Activists – (WACHA LIFE) – gerig om ondersteuners en vrywilligers vir […]

To whom it may concern RE: INVITATION TO WACHA LIFE (www.wachalife.com) WACHA LIFE would like to extend an invitation to you to join and support our “One on Ten Challenge” and the” Wacha Womens March” 2012. For just over a year and a half, WACHA – World Association for Child Humanitarian Activists – (WACHA LIFE) […]

A new television mini-series documenting the life of former president and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela will be filmed mostly on location in South Africa and will cost a whopping US$20-million (R160-million) to produce. Three production companies will be involved with the six-hour mini-series – Canada’s Blue Ice Film; the UK’s Left Bank Pictures and Out […]

The annual gala dinner for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (UK) is to be held in early March at one of the UK’s most exciting venues – Madame Tussauds in London! For more information, see the invitation below…

The 15-year-old South African actress Khomotso Manyaka has earned a position on Time Magazine’s list of the 10 best performances of 2011.       Manyaka was lauded for her performance as the scrawny, big-eyed Chanda in Life Above All, an adaptation of the Allan Stratton novel, Chanda’s Secrets. The film focuses on the stigma surrounding HIV/Aids. Both […]

Africa’s oldest liberation struggle movement and South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has turned 100 years old.   Thousands of people descended on the quiet Free State province to the city of Mangaung, also known as Bloemfontein, to celebrate the party’s existence since 8 January 1912. The celebrations were attended by former heads […]

  A casting agency in London is looking for South Africans for a major Hollywood movie! Guys & Dolls Casting supplies Supporting Artistes/Extras to films, commercials and TV productions like Judge Dredd, Harry Potter, EastEnders, Holby City, Tescos and T Mobile commercials etc. They are currently working on a massive Hollywood movie directed by Ron […]

Thanks to canny survival skills learnt in the bush, former Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier Norman Mpedi has made a drastic career change and launched successful organic juice manufacturing operation Nguni Juices, using wild indigenous fruit harvested in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. It all started when Mpedi could not find work in the South African National Defence Force following […]

Two South Africans have done the country proud by being selected as finalists in the Android Developer Challenge for sub-Saharan Africa. Hosted by Google, the competition tasked entrants with developing new, high quality applications for mobile users in Africa and around the world, using Google’s open source Android operating system. Entrants were invited to submit applications […]

Rooibos is known to be a beverage that can provide relief after a hard day at work, but although well documented, its soothing effect has not yet been proven scientifically. Now, researchers from Stellenbosch University have discovered that the South African herbal tea contains compounds that can help to alleviate anxiety and stress. According to research […]

Die Antwoord will be touring the USA in February. If you live Stateside and haven’t seen them yet, here’s your chance for a lekker South African jol! Thursday 9th Feb. 2012 – Philadelphia PA Trocadero Friday 10th Feb. 2012 – Boston MA Paradise Rock Club Sat 11th Feb. 2012 – New York NY The Fillmore […]

Two filmmakers from the African continent have been commended by major film bodies for their bold adaptation of an Academy Award-winning film into a true African epic. The Boda Boda Thieves, a film by South African producer James Tayler and Ugandan director Donald Mugisha, has recently been selected as one of five films – out […]

Award-winning local stand-up comedian Trevor Noah will be the first South African – and African – comedian to appear on the popular late-night American talk show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Dr Christian Neethling Barnard – famous for performing the first ever human heart transplant – was honoured in early December by the City of Cape Town, which named a street after the brilliant South African cardiac surgeon. The ceremony took place exactly 44 years after Barnard’s astonishing medical achievement on 3 December 1967. The operation lasted […]

If you grew up in South Africa then it’s almost a guarantee that you have stumbled across the story of Racheltjie De Beer, the Voortrekker girl who, after getting lost with her younger brother during a snowstorm, uses her body to shelter him from the cold, sacrificing her life for his. The time has arrived […]

Singer songwriter Josie Field has just launched her third album 1984; she’s opened for James Blunt at the Dome in Jo’burg, Ziggy Marley in Soweto..and played for Madiba on his birthday. She was born 27 years ago at the Jo’burg Gen; lives in Melville, South Africa; and is organizing a fantastic blues/folk concert – The Drake […]

From an email doing the rounds Some years ago a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in South Africa. The Mayor of the South African town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor he wondered how he could afford such a house. The […]