JOHANNESBURG – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced that as of May 21, the use of face masks is no longer mandatory on board aircrafts to the Netherlands and at Dutch airports. This follows international guidelines being adjusted by the European Aviation Authority (EASA) last week. The airline does however insist that should the country of […]

There have been calls in South Africa – on social media and in the political arena – for swift action over the video of a student urinating over the belongings of another student at Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape. Most are calling for the perpetrator’s expulsion, and a petition on Change.org has already gathered […]

South Africa’s judicial commission into state capture, known as the Zondo Commission, recently handed over the fourth part of its voluminous and scathing findings to President Cyril Ramaphosa. As a fact-finding commission, it had to determine if there were facts that were relevant for prosecutorial purposes related to “state capture” and corruption during the reign […]

The world’s largest airline, Emirates, and South African Tourism have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly promote tourism and boost visitor arrivals and inbound traffic to South Africa from key markets across the airline’s network. The MoU was signed on the side-lines of Arabian Travel Market by Badr Abbas, Emirates’ Senior Vice President […]

The court record in AfriForum’s case against the R50 million Cuba donation, shows the grand total of the donation to actually be R350 million and not just R50 million. This was revealed after Afriforum’s legal team requested the court record as part of its review application. According to the record, the government has agreed to […]

A white student at Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape, South Africa, has allegedly urinated over a black student’s room, claiming this is what ‘they’ do to black students. The white student has reportedly apologised to the black first-year student, but the video of the repulsive incident has gone viral, and many outraged South Africans […]

South Africa has been plunged into Stage 4 load shedding this evening with more expected during the week, Eskom said, as it has been unable to gather enough generation capacity to feed national peak demand. Unit 2 of the Kusile Power Station tripped earlier on Monday afternoon, taking 720MW of generating capacity with it. While […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s national rugby flyhalf Elton Jantjies was arrested for “malicious damage to property” after an incident on an Emirates airlines flight from Dubai to Johannesburg on Sunday, police said. Jantjies’ agent says the incident has been “unnecessarily heightened”. The 32-year-old, who was part of the team that won the Rugby World […]

On Monday morning (early!) – 16 May – be sure to look up at the sky to witness a Total Eclipse of the Moon… which will ultimately see the full moon temporarily turn red. This beautiful sight is going to be visible across South Africa (depending on cloud cover). It’s already looking spectacular this evening, […]

Boetie first went to the border, and then to Hollywood, says Carte Blanche about tonight’s special guest, actor Arnold Vosloo who starred in ‘Boetie Gaan Border Toe’ in 1984, and has since become a household name not only in South Africa, but worldwide. This month he’s making headlines on Netflix in Silverton Siege, an action […]

KYIV (Reuters) – Proud Ukrainians revelled in their Eurovision Song Contest victory on Sunday (largely due to an overwhelming public vote of support from the rest of Europe), even renaming a train route in its honour as they hoped for victory in their grinding war with Russia. By Tom Balmforth and Natalia Zinets. It was […]

Due to a continued loss of generating capacity, Stage 2 and Stage 3 loadshedding are to be implemented from Sunday evening across South Africa, Eskom announced in a statement on Sunday morning. Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 17:00 – 22:00 tonight (Sunday 15 May), and Stage 3 will be implemented on Monday and Tuesday […]

A popular radio talk show host in South Africa marketed his crypto investment scheme, promising lucrative returns. Did he know he was offering his investors pie in the sky? Carte Blanche investigates tonight, Sunday 15 May, in SA on DStv Now. If you live abroad, you can stream it overseas in most countries from Tues 17 May […]

Major roads blocked, shops and schools closed. By Bernard Chiguvare.   The town of Musina in Limpopo was shut down this week as protesters took to the streets demanding a consistent water supply. The water supply is the responsibility of the Vhembe District Municipality. Schools and shops were closed and protesters blocked streets. Police were […]

(Reuters) – Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that his $44-billion cash deal for Twitter Inc was “temporarily on hold” while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts. By Greg Roumeliotis and Sheila Dang. Since 2013, Twitter has downplayed the spread of fake accounts on its […]

At simultaneous press conferences around the world on Thursday (12 May), including at the Wits Planetarium at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, astronomers have unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. This means we now have overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed […]

On May 12, 2022, astronomers on the Event Horizon Telescope team released an image of a black hole called Sagittarius A* that lies at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Chris Impey, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, explains how the team (which included two scientists from Wits!) got this image and why […]

Over 200 people marched from Empire Road in Parktown to picket outside the Constitutional Court on Thursday, where a landmark case is being heard that will determine whether blind people in South Africa get better access to versions of published works in, for example, braille. Blind SA, represented by SECTION27 is arguing in support of […]

A film about a unique journey from Morocco to South Africa – called ‘Africa and I’ – could be in line for an Oscar, after scooping the award for Best First Feature Documentary at the 30th Anniversary Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in Los Angeles. PAFF is an official qualifying film festival for the Academy Awards! […]

Trevor Noah has paid tribute to his beloved grandmother Frances Noah, who passed away this week at the age of 95. He also thanked fans around the world who have sent him condolence messages, after they grew to love ‘Gogo’ through Trevor’s stories and interviews with her. (Watch an interview at the bottom of the […]

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has condemned in the strongest possible terms the killing of Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh (51), allegedly by the Israeli Defence Force on Wednesday. The Palestinian-American correspondent was shot in the head while on assignment in Jenin, covering Israeli raids on Jenin in the occupied […]

Subway is too filthy to use, so commuters cross over the railway lines. By Tariro Washinyira. Lansdowne train station in Cape Town serves the busy Cape Flats line. But the station is filthy with garbage and rats . One subway has been used as as toilet and commuters cross the line rather than use it. […]

One of the 11 young and adventurous bull elephants that walked over 700 km from Mozambique to the Kruger National Park, has sadly had to be euthanised due to severe injury. The elephant had tried so valiantly to keep up with the rest of the herd, and was filmed limping behind Trailblazer (see video below), […]

67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day had its big Rainbow Nation Blanket of Hope reveal today at Steyn City School in Gauteng… and it sure was BIG. Thanks to just over 4,500 pieces of fabric woven with love by volunteer ‘KnitWits’ around South Africa, and donated in solidarity, the South African NGO today deployed a […]

A 228.31-carat white diamond called ‘The Rock’ – that was discovered in South Africa 20 years ago – has sold for a whopping $21.8-million at a Christies auction in Geneva, Switzerland, today (Wednesday, 11 May 2022). The Rock is the largest white diamond ever seen throughout auction market history. The white gemstone was mined and […]