The Tokyo 2020 Olympics exploded into life on Friday night with a dazzling opening ceremony held at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Despite Covid-19 restrictions which meant that the ceremony was closed to the public, things went off smoothly as a global audience tuned in to watch as the curtain lifted on the Games, a […]

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South African authorities said on Friday around 1,600 chemicals were stored at a warehouse of India’s UPL Ltd when it was razed during violent looting in KwaZulu-Natal last week, causing potentially harmful air emissions and a greenish-tinged effluent to seep into Umhlanga’s protected lagoon. The warehouse was one of hundreds of […]

Well known South African legal journalist Karyn Maughan has tweeted a message from hospital, asking for prayers as she battles Covid-19. Karyn, who currently reports for News24, wrote at around 17h00 on Friday: “I have tested positive for Covid 19. Hope that the vaccine will protect me from the worst of this. Am in hospital. […]

A total of 19 records were smashed over the last 24 hours in South Africa as parts of the country experienced their lowest minimum or maximum temperature in recorded history. Today – Friday 23 July – Kimberley recorded -9.9 degrees celcius, Warmbad -5.6 and Johannesburg -7, all breaking minimum temperature records in their areas that […]

People from around the world – from Athens to Angola, Austria to Australia and Colombia to Canada – tuned in Friday afternoon (SA time) to watch the Tokyo Olympics 2021 Opening Ceremony… except for a guy by the name of Sello M. in South Africa. As viewers everywhere took to social media to praise Japan […]

Time Magazine has featured KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in South Africa as one of the World’s Greatest Places 2021. SA’s famous Kruger National Park also makes the list of 100 ‘extraordinary destinations to explore’. While it’s fantastic that KZN is finally being globally recognised for being so “eye-poppingly beautiful” with its “surfable beaches and world-heritage-class parklands”, the […]

This follows an announcement by Acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, that the death toll related to the unrest has risen to 337 in the two provinces. Briefing media in Pretoria on Thursday, Ntshavheni said the revision of the death toll, which stood at 276 on Wednesday, comes after people who were injured subsequently […]

Negotiations between rival taxi bodies in Western Cape have reached a deadlock yet again this week. Western Cape Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell and national transport minister Fikile Mbalula have been mediating peace talks between rival taxi bosses. Both CATA and CODETA claim ownership of the route between Paarl and Bellville. Since the start of this […]

MPUMALANGA – Two wildlife trafficking suspects, who were arrested in Nelspruit (Mbombela) whilst transporting 19 rhino horns in two bakkies, have appeared in court today and have been named by the SA Police Service (SAPS). According to SAPS, the accused are Schalk (Abraham) Steyn (48) and Johannes Groenewald (53). The Lowvelder said the men are […]

Eskom says it strongly condemns the continuous vandalism and theft of their equipment that is taking place across Gauteng, with no less than three incidents just this week. “There has been an increase in incidents of vandalism and theft of our equipment resulting in the loss of revenue and increased replacement costs for Eskom,” the […]

The Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, has announced that the provincial government has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with six candidate municipalities participating in the Municipal Energy Resilience (MER) Initiative in the Western Cape. The six municipalities include: Stellenbosch Municipality; Drakenstein Municipality; Mossel Bay Municipality; Overstrand Municipality; Saldanha Bay Municipality; […]

SASCOC has proudly announced that Olympic swimmer Chad le Clos and national women’s hockey goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande have been named as the two flag-bearers for Team SA at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Friday night. The ceremony will officially launch the global sporting showpiece. In a positive break from tradition, the […]

Two South African police officers from Maitland, in Cape Town, were arrested on kidnapping charges, after they grabbed an innocent stranger off the street to replace a prisoner who had escaped under their guard! The shocked, innocent man found himself handcuffed and in a police car, accused of housebreaking and theft, having been switched for […]

The Department of Correctional Services granted former President Jacob Zuma permission to attend the funeral of his late younger brother today. In a statement, the department said a sentenced offender who was granted permission to leave a correctional centre remained a sentenced offender even while temporarily outside. “The permission granted to Mr Zuma is for […]

Reports submitted by Ndobela Lamola Inc are full of forged documents… By Raymond Joseph and Anton van Zyl Three forensic reports into National Lotteries Commission funding have found no evidence of corruption. The seven-month probe cleared Phillemon Letwaba, who was accused of nepotism in connection with dodgy Lotteries grants, of any wrongdoing. But the reports, […]

South Africa’s state-backed vaccine manufacturer Biovac is to start making the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the second half of next year. This will be a first for Africa. The company plans to be producing at least 100 million doses annually from 2023. Pfizer made the announcement on their website today (Wed 21 July). The collaboration between […]

Ahead of the 2010 World Cup there were billboards all over South Africa which shouted, “the waiting is over”. After what had seemed an eternity, the first match exploded into life. The sideshows and build-up were quickly consigned to history… writes GARY LEMKE in Tokyo. On Thursday, South Africa’s men’s under-23s go into battle against hosts […]

This week has seen some of the worst rioting across South Africa since democracy was achieved in 1994. It’s been one of the most stressful weeks for me personally, as an emigrant with close family in some of the most affected hotspots in KZN – Pietermaritzburg and Waterfall… writes migration and travel blogger Reeva Cutting, […]

SAA, you’ve finally done it… writes (former) South African Airways pilot Phil Parsons. Sixteen months after last paying us and 26 years since hiring me, you’ve pulled the plug and retrenched us all. A sad day indeed. My sadness transcends the beautiful machines I’ve had the privilege of flying or the wide world SAA allowed […]

Reigning Miss South Africa 2020 Shudufhadzo Musida proudly graduated today from the University of the Witwatersrand with a BA Honours in International Relations. She is one of 6,712 students who will graduate from Wits during the July graduation season. Musida, who turned 25 just two days ago, tweeted: “The best day! I’m a Witsie.” Wits […]

Charges against a man accused of starting the Cape Town fire in April were withdrawn by the State in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday… writes Marecia Damons. Frederick Mhangazo, 35, was arrested in the vicinity of Devil’s Peak on Sunday 18 April, hours after a devastating blaze had spread across Table Mountain. He first appeared in […]

Purge South Africa is an incredibly hard video to watch. Disturbing. Upsetting. But it’s important, and going viral. It’s what happened in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It’s the harsh reality of what paramedics, police, shop owners, community members and ordinary South Africans faced. Filmmaker Anthony George Kirkwood has bravely and brilliantly filmed the July 2021 events […]

A South African teacher in Vietnam, Dale Benson (39), was earlier this month given the devastating news that he has Stage 4 colon cancer and that, without chemo in Vietnam, he would probably only live a month. His heartbroken mother, Inge, contacted SAPeople. Her friend set up a fundraiser on BackABuddy. And today, we are […]

The Pietermartizburg High Court has today – Tuesday 20 July – granted former President Jacob Zuma’s request for his corruption trial to be delayed. Appearing ‘virtually’ via a video link from Estcourt correctional facility, where he is serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court (after failing to appear before the Zondo Commission of Enquiry […]

Tanya Seymour’s Olympic competition is over before it has begun after her horse, Ramoneur, suffered a debilitating case of laminitis, which results in a painful swelling and inflammation of the hoof (foot)… writes GARY LEMKE in Tokyo, Japan. The 37-year-old Seymour, who made equestrian history at Rio 2016 when she became the first dressage rider […]