The director general of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, Sam Vukela, had been placed on precautionary suspension after being implicated in massive overspending on three state funerals and appointing unqualified people in the department. A Price WaterHouse Coopers report implicated Vukela in the R76 million expenditure on the state funerals of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, […]

The South African National Editors’ Forum has condemned the ANC MP Boy Mamabolo for allegedly threatening to shoot a reporter from Sunday World and kick in his testicles. SANEF said that Mamabolo threatened reporter Ngwako Malatji after he called to get his side of the story alleging that Mamabolo made unsavoury remarks about President Cyril […]

Dear Family and Friends writes Cathy Buckle from Zimbabwe. I write this letter from a bitterly cold Zimbabwe where tension is high and people are anxious. There are 300,000 civil servants in Zimbabwe. A month ago they were promised a “cushioning” allowance of US$75 a month for the next three months and pensioners would get […]

Trucks are backed up in long queues at the Beitbridge border with Zimbabwe, with some drivers complaining that they have been stuck for three days. When GroundUp visited the area on Tuesday 28 July, the queue of trucks crossing into Zimbabwe or on their way to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania stretched […]

The Cape Town leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series – provisionally scheduled for 4-6 December this year – has been cancelled due to the ongoing and dynamic global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, World Rugby announced on Wednesday. The Dubai leg of the Series – with which the Cape Town event is paired […]

South Africans have been delighted to wake up this morning to the Emmy Nominations which were announced last night, with Trevor Noah’s show (The Daily Show) scooping six nominations, reality show Survivor (of which many of the crew members are South African) being nominated for Outstanding Cinematography For A Reality Program, and several popular TV […]

In support of World Tiger Day (29 July), Blood Lions has released an explosive video that puts the focus on the international trade in tiger body parts and makes the link to South Africa’s legal lion bone trade, in their latest campaign movement. Since 2008, nearly 7,000 lion skeletons weighing a total of around 70 […]

The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) has given more than R15 million in funding to a dormant organisation in rural Limpopo, some of it for a mysterious music festival in Mpumalanga. More than R15 million was paid to a dormant Limpopo organisation by the National Lotteries Commission in 2017 and 2019. About R5 million of it […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah says he is feeling “tired and scruffy, but blessed and fulfilled”. His US show – The Daily Show – for which he had to leave SA shores to be based in New York – has been nominated for six Emmy Awards. Yes, SIX! The nominations – from over 10,000 entries […]

Eskom welcomed the Johannesburg High Court judgement today for the power utility to recover a R69-billion equity injection, in a phased manner over a three-year period, ruling that NERSA may not deduct the injection from Eskom’s allowable revenue. The decision means Eskom may now apply to increase tariffs. Eskom said in a statement that prior […]

Three small businesses that won awards in 2019 for their innovation are among the tourism operators that Cape Town is helping weather the economic fallout of COVID-19. The board of Cape Town Tourism has also given their own salaries to fund small tourism businesses during the lockdown. African Authentic Experience, a tour operator; Tees and […]

The bodies of murdered retired farmers Daniel (Danie) Brand, 82, and wife Hybrecht (Breggie), 73, have been found by police searchers about 10km away from the body of their daughter Elizabeth (Elzabie), 53. All three are believed to have been attacked and kidnapped on Sunday at the smallholding where Elzabie’s parents lived in Hartswater in […]

If you haven’t heard it yet, the song “Jerusalema” that has people around the world humming and dancing (#JerusalemaDanceChallenge), composed by South African Master KG and accompanied by vocalist Nomcebo Zikode, has been viewed more than 50 million times on YouTube. (See videos below.) The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, today congratulated […]

The International Monetary Fund has approved a R70 billion ($4.2 billion) loan for South Africa to help the country manage the immediate consequences of the fallout from COVID-19. The Conversation Africa’s editor, Caroline Southey, asked Danny Bradlow at the University of Pretoria to shed some light on what South Africans should expect. What conditions has […]

The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Khehla John Sitole has welcomed the arrest of four suspects following their alleged involvement in the robbery, kidnapping and murder of three members of the Brand family on a farm in Magogong just outside Hartswater in the Northern Cape, South Africa. UPDATE: The bodies of […]

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond and his wife Leah Tutu have called on young people across the world to be diligent about wearing face masks in order to help protect their families, friends and neighbours from the coronavirus. “Please all care for each other and wear a mask,” they said, as their Legacy Foundation in Cape Town […]

After an intensive search for an elderly couple and their daughter, who were attacked and abducted from their farm in the Northern Cape of South Africa, one body has been found, and it is believed that police know where the other two are but were unable to find them last night in the dark and […]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board has approved South Africa’s request for a US$4.3 billion (R70 billion) loan to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The request for emergency financial support under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) will help the country to mitigate the adverse social and economic impact of the pandemic. In a statement issued […]

In the mountains, valleys and plains of the Cape, there are about six thousand species of plants that are not found anywhere else in the world. But as the climate changes, and invasive species and human development elbow them out of their natural niches, they are rapidly disappearing. It has been 70 years since Erica […]

In the latest development in a conflict that has been going on for many years between residents of Marievale outside Nigel, Gauteng, and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the City of Ekurhuleni, a community representative says he is now under military imposed house arrest.   Residents of Happiness Village informal settlement at […]

The brother of the late legendary South African scrum half Joost van der Westhuizen is making headlines himself, after shooting dead two armed robbers who had stormed a church in Centurion and held up the terrified congregation. Former police officer Pieter van der Westhuizen, 51, who was amongst the church goers pulled out his own […]

More than 50 infrastructure projects in South Africa worth R340 billion and impacting the sectors of water and sanitation, roads, energy and affordable housing – part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to reignite a flailing economy – have been gazetted, and are expected to create tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of new jobs. Minister […]

A possible R125 million deal for Protective Personal Equipment by the husband of Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson and a Johannesburg councillor – coming only days after the president said severe steps would be taken against people who questionably benefit off the government’s R500 billion budget to deal with COVID-19 – has raised the ire of opposition […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today, Monday 27 July,  launched two #StopFarmAttacks websites – one in Afrikaans and the other in English – and called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to retract his comment denying farm murders. The website contains an open letter to the South African President urging him to apologize for his “untrue and […]

For South Africans returning home from abroad during the current pandemic, it is now possible to apply to self-quarantine at home during the 14-day mandatory quarantine period. (See self-isolation application form at bottom of page.) Previously South Africans returning to SA had to remain in state-assigned quarantine facilities. Now it’s possible to apply to spend […]