Kruger National Park (KNP) management has confirmed that a fire broke out from the restaurant kitchen at Berg en Dal Rest Camp today, Monday 14 September 2020, at around 10h00. The fire has since been extinguished. South African National Parks (SANParks) said in a statement on Monday afternoon: “The contractor team who are refurbishing the […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has honoured the late human rights lawyer and social activist, Advocate George Bizos, by declaring a Special Official Funeral Category 1 for him. President Ramaphosa authorised that the national flag be flown at half-mast at every flag station in the country from Saturday, 12 September, until the evening of the Special Official […]

Two male suspects will appear in court on Tuesday, in connection with the brutal murders of Ocean Basket franchise owner Lizette Deacon (55) and her mother Hettie (70) whose bodies were found with several stab wounds, in their abandoned vehicle, near Polokwane in the Limpopo Province. The Provincial Commissioner of police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General […]

South Africa’s Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, says “today, we cautiously but optimistically breathe a sigh of relief as we continue to see our detected cases, hospital admissions, deaths and even excess deaths declining”. South Africa’s recovery rate is now almost at 90% and the country’s mortality rate has remained stable at around 2%, Dr […]

Detectives from Temba South African Police Service (SAPS) have made a  breakthrough in the murder of a 23-year old woman by securing the arrest of a suspect – her ex-boyfriend. The woman was tragically murdered on 10 September 2020 in Temba in Tshwane. Gauteng Commissioner of police, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela says he welcomes the […]

Gentle giant, George Bizos who passed away earlier this week was a passionate human rights advocate, life long friend and legal representative for Nelson Mandela. He leaves behind a lasting legacy and will be remembered as someone who contributed immensely to South Africa’s democracy. Watch this and more on Carte Blanche this Sunday. You can […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has directed Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to furnish him – within 48 hours – with a detailed report on the circumstances that led to her sharing a flight to Harare with a senior delegation of African National Congress leadership. A public outcry quickly grew on Wednesday after ANC […]

For all those people who hate the way taxi drivers behave on the road, the way they disobey traffic lights, go the wrong way down one-way streets, overcrowd, drive abysmally and disrespect even their own passengers, now is the time to have your say. Today saw the launch of a public platform, the National Taxi […]

South Africa is making its best wines ever, according to British journalist and wine master Tim Atkin, who managed to put together his latest report during the pandemic and gave two wines a perfect score of 100 points. “Rather than just a few individuals, what we have now is a constellation shining bright above us […]

A terrifying incident, in which a man tried to grab a child around the neck, was caught on film yesterday outside a pizza restaurant in Florida, Roodepoort in Gauteng, South Africa. A man can be seen jumping over a fence to try and grab a child, who was sitting at a table with her mother […]

Three men were beaten to death and their bodies set alight by Rhwantsana villagers on Wednesday, near Cacadu, formerly known as Lady Frere, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The men, aged between 25 and 30, were said to have confessed to murder, according to community members. They were interrogated before they were killed. […]

South Africa’s Minister of Environment has stressed that International commercial trade of rhino horn and derivatives remains prohibited… in terms of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the South Africa’s CITES regulations (2010). “International commercial trade in rhino horn is and remains prohibited in terms […]

Pioneer Foods has confirmed that the substance in its Liqui Fruit 330ml red grape juice cans is not glass. Chief Executive Officer of Pioneer Foods/PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa, Tertius Carstensthat, said what was previously visually identified as shards of glass found in the 330ml cans is actually crystals of a naturally occurring substance in products of […]

Five young boys have been nicknamed ‘The Magnificent 5’ by the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa, after their caring rescue of a timid Labrador. The Animal Welfare Society (AWS) of South Africa – which offers a range of veterinary services to the underprivileged and disadvantaged communities of Cape Town – said the group of […]

The High Court of South Africa has dismissed the appeal filed by Zanchieta Wild Cat Farm against the judgment of Honourable Ms Justice Mokgohloa concerning Zanchieta’s inclusion in the award-winning Blood Lions documentary; and instructed Zanchieta to pay Blood Lions’ legal costs. Blood Lions’ documentary feature film – which blows the lid off claims made […]

Classmates at a school in Cape Town, South Africa, are inspiring the nation with their kind gesture for a friend in need. Seventeen-year-old Tashreeq Doovey, from Hanover Park, was recently robbed of his cellphone when he suffered a seizure while he was walking home. Not only is he a matric student, but also the sole […]

The District Six Museum in Cape Town, which recalls the painful and yet colourful past of the famous neighbourhood whose residents were forcefully evicted and the area demolished during apartheid, faces closure after 25 years, and have asked for donations from the public to help them get back on their feet after the lockdown. The […]

In one of the worst year’s on record for loadshedding in South Africa, more of the same is possible as one of the conveyor belts at Medupi power station broke down, Eskom said today. “This means the four generation units in service are not able to take in the requisite amount of coal to generate […]

National Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya welcomed the arrested of three suspects found transporting heroin worth R87.5 million in Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, on Wednesday. In a statement, officers from the Richards Bay Serious Organised Investigation, in collaboration with their Mpumalanga Crime Intelligence counterparts, said they discovered the 342.5kg consignment when they intercepted a […]

George Bizos, who advocated for human rights and defended poor people throughout his life, has passed away at the age of 92, from natural causes. Bizos, who grew up in a small rural village in Greece, became one of South Africa’s most distinguished and celebrated lawyers. He was part of the team that defended Nelson […]

The Supreme Court of South Africa today dismissed the appeal of Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor Andile Lungisa over his sentence to two years in jail over an incident in 2016 where he hit a Democratic Alliance councillor over the head with a water jug (see video below).   Lungisa was found guilty in April […]

The clichéd adage “boys will be boys” has, over the ages, normalised unbecoming behaviours. It has also socialised young men into thinking that being a man could entail getting away with reckless behaviour, even the use of violence and aggression to assert power. In her analysis of violent masculinities in post-apartheid South Africa, feminist scholar Pumla […]

In May 2017 we (GroundUp) took photos of Cape Town’s dam levels at the height of the drought. This is what the Berg River looked like then: And this is what it looked like on Saturday: And below is what Theewaterskloof, which can hold more than half of Cape Town’s water at capacity, looked like […]

The Game Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA) says it applauds the decision announced in Zimbabwe yesterday to ban mining in national parks. The Association says it had noted with “great alarm” the reports that Special Mining Grants had been issued to mine coal within Hwange National Park. The decision was announced on Tuesday by Zimbabwe’s […]

South Africans have done what they do best – and responded to the latest scene of horror, with humour. After a woman with grey hair pulled out a gun on EFF protestors in a Port Elizabeth shopping centre yesterday (watch video below), headlines about the gun-toting granny went viral. It’s now been followed by a […]