Ardent Oscar opponents may yet be granted their wish for him to be locked up and the key thrown away. The Olympian athlete with carbon-fibre prosthetics, who killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013, begins his court-ordered mental health evaluation next week. This ruling follows earlier testimony by forensic psychiatrist Dr Merryll Vorster […]

South African “lion whisperer” Kevin Richardson’s videos of him playing, wrestling and hugging lions have become famous throughout the world. But his latest one has a very stylish twist. In this video Kevin plays football with the lions whilst dressed in a very larni suit. The video, which was created for fashion house Van Gils, has […]

British Supergroup One Direction announced today that they will be touring South Africa next year. The band released a statement this morning saying “here’s a bit of a huge announcement for you. Who’s ready for ANOTHER tour in 2015? The ‘On the Road Again Tour’ to be exact! IDHQ x” Apart from South Africa, the […]

South Africa’s version of Burning Man – Afrika Burn – has become the largest, and many would say the best, of over a hundred worldwide burning events that have been inspired by the original hedonistic art festival in Reno, Nevada. Burning Man in Reno has become a popular destination for, amongst others, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Facebook’s […]

It is with extreme sadness that we share the news that beloved member of Johnny Clegg’s band, Bongani Masuku, passed away last night. The following message was posted on Johnny Clegg’s facebook page a couple of hours ago: “It is with shock, anger and deep felt sadness that we mourn the violent killing last night […]

The Cell C Sharks game today versus The Crusaders at their home turf in New Zealand, will go down in history. Not only because the Sharks defeated the Crusaders for the first time ever in Christchurch in Vodacom Super Rugby history, with their 30-25 win which keeps them at the top of the log. But […]

Gauteng businessman, Agang SA supporter and Facebook commentator Tshepo Motsitsi writes an open letter to Dr Ramphele: I’m ambivalent about open letters but if I were to write an open letter to Dr Mamphela Ramphele it would be along these lines: Dear Dr Ramphele, In 2013 I got actively involved in politics inspired by your […]

Mango Groove has been forced to cancel their forthcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, leaving band members John Leyden “gutted” and Claire Johnston “disappointed beyond words”. Leyden, guitarist and founder of the South African band, said: “What can I say? We are gutted. We have been looking forward to this tour for many months now, […]

The South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced the tragic news of the first confirmed elephant poaching incident in the Kruger National Park (KNP) during the past decade. The Park has been a renowned target for rhino poachers, but elephants have remained safe in the Kruger for over ten years. Until now. According to SANParks’ Acting […]

The other day I wrote a piece explaining why I had voted for Agang SA’s Mamphela Ramphele, and why I was glad for having done so despite her party’s poor showing in the polls. I argued that small parties can do good work and that somebody of her calibre could play a meaningful role in South African politics. […]

The following blog post, written by TGIF’s Thorsten Marbach, was shared by a few of his friends on Facebook yesterday. It’s a message for all South Africans. Thorsten,  a thought-leader who talks every Friday at a Seattle coffee shop in Johannesburg, wrote: With the elections over, do we settle down to outsourcing the leadership of our nation […]

A semi-retired South African expat has stepped up to become an unlikely hero in the Ukraine where he is working tirelessly to rescue thousands of zoo animals – affected by the revolution – from starving to death. Lionel de Lange (48), who has lived in the Ukraine since 2006 and still has a business in South […]

Judge Thokozile Masipa today ruled that Oscar Pistorius must be referred for 30-day psychiatric evaluation following Monday’s evidence from forensic psychiatrist Dr Merryll Vorster that he may suffer from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Called by the defence, Dr Vorster testified that GAD might have played a role in Oscar’s actions when he shot and killed […]

Advocate Gerrie Nel told the court he would tomorrow apply for Oscar to be referred for 30-days’ mental observation. This twist came after defence advocate Barry Roux called forensic psychiatrist Merryll Vorster to testify in Oscar’s murder trial. Roux’s intention was to bring to the court’s attention psychiatric factors that might be of relevance during […]

In April 2013 South African journalist Rowan Philp, who was based in Boston USA at the time, wrote an article for the Mail & Guardian about the very many successful South African expats in the USA and their incredible contribution to the rest of the world. The article was popular and before you could say ‘social […]

A South African by the name of Mandy (or Mando as they like to say in Australia) has proved to Australian radio listeners that the South African accent CAN be sexy! And that South African women aren’t shy! Popular Aussie Radio DJ Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross, who presents the afternoon ‘Rosso on Drive’ show on KIIS106.5 […]

For everyone’s sake, let’s hope the trial winds down soon. What started off as a showcase of our legal expertise has turned into Comedy Central. In a nutshell, this was the week that: • The father and daughter who were first on the scene said Oscar was screaming, crying and praying; • Reeva’s ‘best friend’ […]

Unfortunately the votes from four overseas cities have not been counted as they did not reach South Africa before the IEC’s deadline of 9 pm tonight. The four cities are: Toronto, Havanna, Madrid and Lubumbashi. According to a message on Vote Home SA’s Facebook page: “Please note that this was due to the votes being […]

The international votes are in with an overwhelming majority win for the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA has won 84.44 % of the international votes, with the African National Congress (ANC) in second position with 8.32%. There was a total of 18,132 valid overseas votes with 15,311 of these being for the DA, and  1,508 for the ANC. Agang, […]

As news comes this afternoon that the Nigerian Government apparently knew of Boko Haram’s planned kidnapping of over 240 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok…but failed to act, we publish (with permission) South African businessman and commentator Tshepo Motsitsi’s take on the lack of response from foreign governments  to try to rescue these girls. Two hours ago Amnesty International announced that: […]

UPDATE (9.15 pm, 08 May 2014): Helen Zille from the DA has just tweeted: “Re the ballots that were found: auditing has established that they WERE counted before they were “dumped”. No fraud suspected” – pls see further updates below. Helen Zille, Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), has responded to reports of ballot papers […]

Lisa Ashton, CEO and founder of The Winnie Mabaso Foundation, is outraged by a luxury resort in South Africa offering a “Shanty Town” experience to local and overseas visitors. Here she explains why in an open letter to readers everywhere: FROM LISA ASHTON: Yesterday as South Africans all over the country cast their vote I was reminded of many […]

Updated 8.35 pm, Friday 9 May 2014: Provisional results of the 2014 South African Elections are almost complete. As predicted the country’s ruling party – the African National Congress (ANC) – took an early lead with 59.09% of the votes by 11.15 pm last night, and by midnight had already surpassed the 10,000 mark vote tally. By 8.35 pm […]

You’ve got to love South Africa and South Africans! Even though some of the queues at voting stations are seemingly endless, the locals who’ve lined up have turned the delays into a social gathering and are making the most of their day off (which is a public holiday in the country). Jarrod Aston said that […]

Reports have come in of chaos at voting stations where South African voters have forgotten to take their ID books along with them. It is compulsory to have your green bar-coded ID book (or smart ID card or temporary identity certificate) with you in order to vote. According to one voter, Sharika Assad, many people […]