ACCRA – The former president of Namibia, Hifikepunya Pohamba, became the fourth president to be awarded the Mo Ibrahim Foundation prize for African leadership, last given in 2011, at a ceremony in the Ghanaian capital on Friday. The award, created to reward an African leader who serves out his constitutional term and then leaves office, was created in […]

GABORONE – A 1,111-carat diamond was unearthed in a mine 500 km north of the Botswana capital this week, the biggest diamond find in the country and the largest in more than a century, it was announced on Thursday. The discovery of the stone, weighing 222 grams, was made at the Karowe mine owned by the Canadian Lucara Diamond Corporation, the firm said in […]

NEW YORK – Sixteen of Africa’s 50 richest people are from South Africa, which takes over the lead from the 2014 No. 1 country, Nigeria, which only had 10 on this year’s list, according to Forbes magazine. South Africa also has six of the continent’s 23 billionaires, Forbes said when it publicised the list on […]

JOHANNESBURG – The embattled South African Airways has appointed a new CEO after only four months, its seventh chief in four years, after the airline faced renewed challenges from its pilots and staff, according to news reports on Wednesday. SAA said in a statement that Thuli Mpshe will be replaced as acting chief by the head of technical […]

South Africans are heartbroken today by the news that All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu has sadly passed away at his home in Auckland, New Zealand. The much-loved rugby hero, who was catapulted to worldwide fame after the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, was only 40-years-old. Oregan Hoskins, president of the South African Rugby Union (SARU), said: […]

CAPE TOWN – After several weeks where it seemed South Africa might lose a huge American agricultural contract, it has signed an agreement with the United States to resume imports of 65,000 tons of chicken a year, according to news reports on Tuesday. The US had threatened to suspend trade benefits for South African farm products earlier this […]

The name is derived from “happy prospect” in Afrikaans, and once upon a time, life and the gold haul were both good at the Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine, 50 miles west of Johannesburg. But two years after the mine’s owners abandoned it because it was unprofitable, sewage runs in the streets of the old mining village, […]

This article is not meant to belittle the horrible events that occurred in Paris on 13 November but to highlight the notion that the winds of change have brought new terrors that should make one rethink traditional conceptions of safety. Eleven-Thirteen (11-13) is another infamous date to be added to 9-11 and 7-7; another senseless act of terror; another deadly […]

Countless Muslims around the world are voicing their disapproval of the ISIS attacks on Paris on Friday, in which at least 129 people were killed, by raising their voices on social media under the banner #NotInMyName. At the centre of the campaign is a video from September 2014 called “#NotInMyName: ISIS Do Not Represent British Muslims” that […]

Paris was gripped by terror on Friday night, as gunmen simultaneously attacked six locations, with shootings and explosions leaving at least 127 people confirmed dead, according to France’s President Francois Hollande. A siege at a packed concert hall, that left many dead, ended around 1am Paris time after more than 100 hostages were evacuated by police. Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility. The […]

GENEVA – A Hong Kong property tycoon has bought a 12.03-carat blue diamond found in South Africa last year at auction for a record $48.4 million (£31.7m), it was reported on Thursday, the second diamond he had bought for his seven-year-old daughter in two days. Joseph Lau confirmed that he had bought the “Blue Moon” diamond […]

It used to be a rare event when a high-ranking member of the African National Congress said something critical of the party or dissented, or pointed at cracks in the political firmament, but recently it has become more frequent. Add to the growing list of voices being raised Ben Turok (talking about the strictures of the ANC […]

The horror novel ‘Day Four’ by South African Sarah Lotz has reached the semifinals of the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards, which brands itself as the only major book awards chosen by readers. A book about South African Elon Musk has also been nominated, in a non-fiction category. Goodreads, which started in 2007 and has apparently got 40 […]

PRETORIA – Eight policemen each received a 15-year jail sentence on Wednesday for the murder of a Mozambican taxi driver who was dragged behind a police van, according to news reports. The death of Mido Macia in February 2013 was caught on a mobile phone camera which showed him being manhandled, handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged […]

JOHANNESBURG – The remains of a dinosaur 50 percent larger than a T-Rex, found near Clarens in the Free State, are being pieced together by the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University, it was announced on Tuesday. The plant-eating dinosaur, still to be named but which goes by the nickname ‘Highland Giant’, would have weighed about […]

AMMAN – The South African contractor who was one of at least five people who died after a local police officer opened fire at a police training centre in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday has been identified as Conrad Whitehorn, it was reported on Tuesday. Whitehorn, 37, was from Johannesburg, the reports added. A news report […]

Yes, the rand is plunging, unemployment is rocketing and the country’s debt is increasing, but South Africa remains one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that has been growing faster than other countries around the world, according to a new report. The report by financial news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, compiled from various data since 2005, said that South Africa’s Gross […]

As weather predictions mount of a serious drought hitting numerous parts of South Africa, people are starting to ask whether a massive international water slide event scheduled to take place in a number of cities should go ahead. The event organisers, Slide the City, have given assurances that they take water conservation seriously, and a website in […]

AMMAN – A South African in Jordan was among at least five people killed on Monday when a Jordanian captain opened fire on instructors at an international police training center in the capital, before he was shot dead by security forces, news reports said. The South African was a 37-year-old from Gauteng who worked for an […]

The South African Weather Service has issued a red-alert warning of a heatwave in parts of the country. South Africans are being urged to brace themselves for the hot and dry conditions that are expected to last all week, beginning today. The affected areas are Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the eastern part of the North West. ER24 […]

JOHANNESBURG – MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa has resigned with immediate effect, the company said on Monday, it was reported. This comes two weeks after the telecommunications giant’s Nigerian division was fined $5.2 billion by that country’s communications agency for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards. MTN shares initially reacted badly to the news, and the JSE temporarily suspended […]

The Democratic Alliance said President Jacob Zuma should show leadership and publically insist that the order for a R4 billion jet for him not go through, especially in tight financial times and with more important priorities needing funding. The statement by the DA on Sunday comes after a news report saying that Armscor plans to begin the procurement process for […]

JOHANNESBURG – The South African rand fell to its lowest level ever against the dollar on Friday, to 14.17, on news of strong job statistics in the United States, suggesting the US Federal Reserve will increase interest rates before the end of 2015. One news report said that the rand has depreciated 20 percent in […]

It’s not surprising that the Ministerial Task Team announced today, Thursday, that it has found that the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has failed to provide leadership and guidance to the health profession on a number of issues…when you look at the infographic below. The infographic, outlining how effectively countries around the world spend their […]

On the same day the South African Police arrested four Krugersdorp policemen who were caught on camera fatally shooting a suspect at point-blank range, Trevor Noah talked about the effects of “brutally” filming cops and whether it deters them from doing their jobs properly. According to a SA Police statement on Tuesday, on 19 October two policemen were attending to […]