To mark 100 days since Lockdown began in South Africa, Faried Swartz – has produced another of his brilliant parody videos. Faried says: “100 days… A Corona Fairytale”. The video is based on The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” with Faried’s own lyrics, including smoking in a shebeen… and the classic “Then I saw her face, […]

“I was in my room washing. I asked them for one minute. Then they threw me outside.” Bulelani Qolani described how on Wednesday he was dragged naked from his home by City of Cape Town law enforcement officers sent to demolish shacks at a site called eThembeni, near Empolweni, in Khayelitsha. The video of Qolani […]

Four South African Airways unions and staff representatives have expressed an intention to sign voluntary severance packages offered as part of the airline’s business rescue and restructuring process. The three main unions, however, have so far not accepted the packages. These are the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the SA Cabin Crew […]

The Ministry of Environmental Resources, Conservation and Tourism in Botswana has issued a press release about the recent mysterious deaths of elephants in the areas around Seronga. Since March 2020, National Park Rescue reports 356 elephant deaths of which the Botswana government said 275 elephant carcasses have been verified. Investigations into the unexplained deaths of […]

MTN South Africa has made a donation of R500,000 to a newly started relief fund to help journalists whose livelihoods have been devastated by COVID-19, and has exhorted other businesses to also help. A newly released report by the non-profit South African National Editors’ Forum, COVID19 Impact on Journalism, has highlighted the havoc that the […]

Described by friends, colleagues and family as a soft soul who got along with everybody, HIV/AIDS activist Nomandla Yako died on Sunday night in Groote Schuur hospital of renal failure as a result of being ill with Covid-19. She was 41. Nomandla Yako and her son were featured on Siyayinqoba in the mid-2000s. Yako lived […]

South Africa’s Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu says the SA government cannot afford to lose money because of neglect, inefficiencies or poor decision making. Makwetu said this when he released the report on the audit outcomes for municipalities for the financial year that ended in March 2019. “The levels of fruitless and wasteful expenditure have also increased. […]

South Africa recorded its deadliest 24 hours since the Coronavirus outbreak, with 128 fatalities on Tuesday, bringing the total to 2,657. Of the new deaths, 52 are from the Western Cape, 36 from Gauteng, 25 from the Eastern Cape, 11 from KwaZulu-Natal and four from Mpumalanga, bringing the death toll to 2,657. The number of […]

The African National Congress has, controversially, reinstated two of its members who figured prominently in a report exposing the R2 billion fraud committed at VBS Mutual Bank. Eight ringleaders of the fraud were arrested and charged two weeks ago. The decision to reinstate Limpopo provincial deputy chairperson Florence Radzilani and treasurer Danny Msiza was apparently taken […]

As the squandering of money by most municipalities went up yet again – from R25.2 billion to R32 billion – Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu in his latest report of the country’s municipalities singled out the Western Cape and Gauteng for having developed characteristics of good governance. Makwetu said many municipalities were spending money “in ways that […]

South Africa recorded its deadliest 24 hours since the Coronavirus outbreak, after 128 people succumbed to COVID-19 on Tuesday, the Department of Health announced on Wednesday. There have now been over 150,000 Covid-19 cases in SA. The Department urged the elderly and those with co-morbidities to stay home after it was revealed that 10,700 people […]

A powerful South African video has won the Music Video Category in an international film festival – the 2020 Moment Invitational Film Festival. The video, directed by Luke Bell, features Cape Town-based musician Phehello Makgoe performing his song ‘We Can’t Breathe’. And the guys would love your vote right now to make sure they win […]

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has issued a stern warning to those in South Africa who have invaded – or plan to invade properties – to desist from the unlawful acts. “The department has noticed incidents in which people illegally occupy places of land, buildings and houses. Recent cases have been reported […]

The finalists for the prestigious 2020 Rhino Conservation Awards have been announced, featuring several South Africans. The winners will be celebrated in a virtual event on World Ranger Day on 31 July. These conservation heroes comprise the people and organisations who work constantly to reduce the threats and increase the sustainability of conservation efforts in […]

Three Critically Endangered African White-Backed Vultures have been successfully rehabilitated and released back into the wild by Wildlife ACT, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Raptor Rescue; through the Zululand Vulture Project. (See video at bottom of page.) The release last week, following fantastic collaborative efforts, came after a spate of poisoning incidences ravaged Zululand last year. […]

A nearly complete R281 million forensic pathology facility at Groote Schuur Hospital could help reduce South Africa’s high number of unsolved crimes and cold cases. The Observatory Forensic Pathology Institute will be more than just a mortuary, the University of Cape Town’s Department of Medicine says on its website, but will allow pathologists to be […]

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases are on a sharp and steady increase, with 6,130 new cases reported on Monday, bringing the total number to 144,264. “The numbers are picking up and the surge is on the way. Particularly in Gauteng, the numbers are locking up faster than anticipated,” said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. “Western Cape started […]

With moviehouses across the country ready to open soon, the well-known Labia Theatre in Cape Town has announced that it will also start streaming a curated selection of movies that one can watch at home, in addition to those that will be available on its four screens. The Labia Home Screen offers six video-on-demand movies […]

Crowned “a new kind of global pop star” by The New York Times, award-winning South African rap disruptor Sho Madjozi has officially signed to Epic Records, it was announced today. She joins the label’s esteemed roster as the only South African act in North America. Epic Records’ Chairman and CEO Sylvia Rhone said, “African artists are enjoying an unprecedented […]

The South African Government says it remains “gravely concerned” at the intention of Israel to proceed with its unilateral action to annex strategic areas of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in the West Bank and Jordan Valley, from 1 July 2020. Israel’s annexation plans represent a unilateral negation of the two-state solution, and are opposed […]

The Kiffness has produced yet another parody offering insight into the world we are currently living in – The Gallows… a parody of Lady Gaga’s mega-hit ‘Shallow’. This time he’s joined by his wife (who usually plays an entertaining background role). The Kiffness – aka Dave Scott – says that the “views expressed in this […]

At least 132 civilian claims have been made against the members of the Gauteng SAPS since the inception of the national lockdown period, according to Gauteng Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko. According to Mazibuko, of these 132 claims, 79 claims are being processed, 44 claims are under investigation and only nine claims have been finalised. […]

The supplementary budget tabled last week by South Africa’s finance minister, Tito Mboweni, whose primary objective was to make more money available for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, sheds no light on the relative prioritisation of prevention over treatment for COVID-19. Alex van den Heever reports. The required health system response to COVID 19 […]

As many as two dozen ships at a time could be seen lying anchored in Table Bay the last few weeks, while berths in the harbour were almost empty. The Western Cape government said it has requested a meeting with Minister Pravin Gordhan to deal with the challenges facing Cape Town harbour that are losing […]

The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, and the number of diseases associated with it, seems to be increasing worldwide. Africa is known to have a huge burden of disease, but little is known about the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. In our recent paper, we reviewed and analysed all published studies that assessed the vitamin […]