North West Premier, Professor Job Mokgoro, is today visiting Blydeville and Boikhutso townships near Lichtenburg, following a violent community protest. The protest on Tuesday led to the torching of two police vehicles and an ambulance. It is believed that the community protest was sparked by the death of two children, after allegedly being hit by […]

A worldwide pandemic and a whole lot of social distancing couldn’t keep South African wheelchair athlete Ernst Francois van Dyk away from participating – albeit differently – in the 2020 Boston Marathon, which was scheduled to have taken place on Monday (20 April). While the prestigious marathon itself has been postponed, Ernst joined 64 other […]

The physical distancing measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 15 March followed by an extended lockdown may have bought us time to prepare for Covid-19. Good leadership has helped the response, but the current lockdown is not sustainable. In city centres and middle-class suburbs there is largely adherence, but in many marginalised areas the lockdown […]

The Eastern Cape is gearing up for its fight against COVID-19 with the province boosting its hospital capacity. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize paid the Eastern Cape a visit on Tuesday where he met with the Premier Oscar Mabuyane and Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba. Mkhize was taken through the province’s contingency plans to fight the outbreak […]

Numbers tell stories. Usually, stories of people – often happy stories, like births, marriages, finishing school, getting a degree, getting a job. Even paying taxes. Sometimes they tell sad stories – death, divorce, disease, liquidations. Statistics do not provide a cold or inanimate way of dealing with the world – they are one key part […]

In an effort to curb COVID-19 infections, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has dispersed 1265 tankers and 134 water trucks throughout the Free State province. This is to ensure people are able to wash their hands, a critical measure in preventing the spread of the virus. The department is not only supplying municipalities […]

South Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases now stands at 3 465 as of Tuesday. The total number of tests conducted are 126 937 of which 5 427 were done in the last 24 hours. Provincial breakdown is as follows: Gauteng – 1199 Western Cape – 1010 KwaZulu-Natal – 671 Eastern Cape – 345 Free State – […]

Even the opposition party – the Democratic Alliance (DA) – has welcomed President Ramaphosa’s announcement on Tuesday night of a suite of economic support measures to counteract the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on individual South Africans, on businesses and on the SA economy as a whole. Announcing a R500-billion extraordinary budget for coronavirus response, […]

A shopkeeper, one of his customers, and a former police officer – who they call their ‘Godmother’ – have been keeping people in Merriespruit, Free State, feeling merry with generous hand-outs of food parcels during South Africa’s lockdown. The three unlikely amigos in Virginia have been helping put food on the table, and a smile […]

Here are the details for the final repatriation flight from Europe for South Africans stuck abroad. Please pass on to any South Africans you know in the region (including the UK and Ireland) who may want to make their way to Germany to fly home. South Africans in Egypt are also advised to urgently contact […]

The One World, Together at Home global concert – organised to raise funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic – has raised over US$127 million. The eight-hour concert which took place on Saturday – and featured South African DJ Black Coffee – was co-organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with Global Citizen’s Hugh Evans and […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation this evening – Tuesday, 21 April 2020 – on additional economic and social relief measures that form part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The President’s address comes as a result of recent deliberations at Cabinet, the National Coronavirus Command Council, the President’s Coordinating Council, and […]

South Africa on Monday confirmed four new COVID-19 deaths, leading to a total of 58 people who have succumbed to the virus to date. According to a statement released by the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, the country now has 3 300 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 121 510 tests having been conducted in both […]

The Kiffness has done it again – with The Sound of Sirens (Sound of Silence Lockdown Parody). Watch below… Dave Scott (aka The Kiffness) said it’s “a song for all those in lockdown with cabin fever”. It’s already had over 100,000 views on YouTube with most people giving it the thumbs up. Dave joked: “The […]

A passionate South African former golf caddy, Laurence Wells, is auctioning a flag signed by legendary golfer Tiger Woods when he won the British Open… to raise money for the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK where Laurence now lives. It costs only £10 to stand a chance to win the flag, signed by […]

After many unanswered calls by government departments, the Public Service Commission has appealed to them to update contact details on their websites so citizens can reach them. Many have not been updated despite lockdown being in effect for three weeks already. The PSC said it has been inundated with unanswered calls and unreachable numbers. The […]

As I accompanied members of a community-sponsored, volunteer-based feeding scheme around Pretoria recently, I saw several communities who might have been of different races. But they had one thing in common – they are desperately in need of food as they reel under the economic effects of lockdown in South Africa. We arrive at the […]

There is no word to describe a parent who has lost a child… writes Hayley Reichert from Home Away From Home. The closest word that is used among those who have experienced such a loss, is ‘Vilomah’, a Sanskrit word that means ‘against a natural order’. One such angel is nine-year old Max Claase, a […]

The South African government should massively ramp up its “insufficient” spending to cushion the country from the economic and social ravages of the Covid-19 lockdown and the pandemic, says the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) in a policy document. The think tank has released a detailed emergency rescue package which it says the state should […]

As the taxi industry counts the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, intergovernmental consultations on a Taxi Industry Relief intervention are at an advanced stage. This was confirmed by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula during a virtual meeting with the National Taxi Alliance (NTA) on Sunday. “The Departments of Transport, Small Business, Labour, Trade and Competition as […]

Albert Camus was a 20th century French Algerian thinker who won the Nobel Prize for his literary works. These days it is his novel The Plague that has naturally been receiving attention. In this essay I instead consider what Camus’ philosophical classic, The Myth of Sisyphus, reveals about the status of our lives with COVID-19. […]

What strategy should South Africa follow to contain the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the current 35-day lockdown? Any strategy should be informed by the trajectory of the disease, the effectiveness – or otherwise – of the current lockdown and how the particularities of the country will interact with the virus. These include high […]

South Africa has confirmed a total of 3 158 COVID-19 cases, having conducted 114 711 tests to date. Gauteng is still leading with 1 148 people testing positive for the virus, followed by the Western Cape at 868 cases. KwaZulu-Natal has 617 cases of COVID-19, the Eastern Cape province has 293 cases, Free State has […]

Loyal South African Airways (SAA) staff are begging the South African public to please support them in persuading the government to not turn its back on the airline. Listen below to a heartbreaking message from one of the airline’s pilots to South Africans to take to social media and help #SAVESAA. According to reports, the […]

To obey lockdown regulations, Batyi tries to keep her family inside her corrugated iron shack in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. “I worry a lot about them catching coronavirus,” says Nozakuthini Batyi. “I make my kids stay in my yard or lie in bed throughout the day.” As a means to ensure her kids stay indoors, she […]