After a major thunder and hail storm in Johannesburg on Saturday, which caused devastating damage to buildings from Lenasia to Soweto, these rare Mammatus clouds – photographed by Raymond J. O’Connor  – formed over Pretoria. (These photos have not been photoshopped!) “They got the storm, we got the clouds,” he told SAPeople. “It rained for a […]

On Friday South Africa’s Constitutional Court delivered yet another blow to the country’s President, Jacob Zuma. ConCourt ruled that Parliament has violated its constitutional obligation to hold Zuma to account, by failing to determine whether he has breached section 89 of the Constitution. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane said today: “This is a consequence of […]

In a move that underscores his commitment to conservation, His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales – aka Prince Harry – has formally joined African Parks as their President. The appointment was just made public Wednesday morning in a statement released by Kensington Palace.  African Parks is a conservation NGO, founded in 2000, that manages national […]

Durban enjoyed a bumper weekend with more than 1,686,174 people visiting various beaches around the City during the long weekend, 23-25 December 2017. According to eThekwini Municipality it was a fun-filled and incident-free weekend with no drownings reported, thanks to a great team of lifesavers, police and municipal workers. In a media release, the Durban […]

The UK’s Economist newspaper has selected South Africa’s Nkosi Sikelil’iAfrika as the best national anthem in the world. The newspaper describes the key ingredients to a national anthem as including a “rousing tune to quicken the pulse, some pathos to moisten the eyes and that inexplicable something to make it stand out from all the […]

The Khoisan 4 have returned home to a hero’s welcome after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa showed he’s the man who cares… by stepping up today, 24 December 2017, to receive a  a memorandum from the Khoibushmen Liberation Walkers, who had been camped outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria this month. Lisa Marcelle Hold, who shared […]

This heart-wrenching photo of an eight-week-old Labrador puppy in South Africa depicts one of many cruelty cases that Claws Animal-Welfare in Welkom, Free State, have had so far during  this festive season. This young dog was burnt with boiling water, according to Cindy Bortnowski, who runs non-profit charity Claws in Welkom with Rochelle Howard. Cindy told SAPeople […]

Elon Musk‘s space exploration company – SpaceX – launched its Falcon Heavy rocket on Friday night… and launched UFO debates in parts of America, as shocked citizens tried to work out what they were seeing in the sky. For many it looked like an alien spacecraft. South African born and bred entrepreneur, Musk, took to […]

As is the annual tradition, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco welcomed all the young Monégasque children to the palace on Wednesday for a visit from Santa Claus, and a fun Christmas dance and magic show in the ‘throne room’. And on Friday evening they posted 2017’s royal Christmas Card (see below)… featuring their […]

Supporters of the Khoisan 4, who are camping at the Union Buildings and holding a Hunger Strike, are calling on South Africans everywhere to please help the protesting men get what they need, so they can get home for Christmas. This is Day 15 of their Hunger Strike, and their health is deteriorating rapidly. The […]

It is summer time in the southern hemisphere and locals and tourists are flocking to the coast to enjoy the sunshine, salt air and some of the best beaches this part of the world has to offer. In southern Africa it’s also the time when great white sharks migrate closer to Cape Town’s shore to […]

Mama Rosie describes her job as a “calling”, not a job. She says her purpose in working is not  to earn money. “God has called me to do this,” she says… and her reward is the “smile of these children when they’re saying Mama to me, and thank you”. ‘These children’ include over 5,000 who […]

Afriforum says the ANC’s decision to amend the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land in South Africa without compensation puts South Africa on a road to conflict and is nothing more than a plan to “steal property”, putting South Africa on the Zimbabwe route. The civil rights organisation threatened that it will “not sit back” […]

President Jacob Zuma has congratulated the new President of the African National Congress, Comrade President Cyril Ramaphosa and his leadership collective, the National Executive Committee and Officials  as elected by the 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) in Nasrec, Johannesburg. “I wish to heartily congratulate Comrade President Cyril Ramaphosa for his election […]

Newly elected ANC leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, delivered the following speech on Wednesday evening, 20 December 2017, to close the ANC National Conference: This is a deeply humbling moment, to address the closing session of the 54th National Conference of our beloved and glorious movement, the African National Congress. There is no doubt that this has […]

South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), has a new president – Cyril Ramaphosa. But who is he? Ramaphosa cuts a fitting figure to take over government, stabilise the economy, and secure the constitutional architecture that he helped create at the end of apartheid. But to expect more would be expecting too much. […]

As Cape Town’s Day Zero has been brought forward to 29 April 2018, South Africans in Joburg have kindly sent litres of water down to their compatriots in the Western Cape. 10 Litres of Kindness is the brainchild of Shaun and Vikki Lee Harry who are originally from Cape Town themselves. The couple, who’ve been […]

The Democratic Alliance has called for Mzwandile Masina to resign and give Ekurhuleni a new beginning. The DA said that although he is now denying it, he was reported by News24 last month to have said that he “can never serve under Cyril” and “I will leave”. As a staunch Zuma supporter and vocal campaigner […]

Christmas has come early for South African supermodel, Candice Swanepoel, who announced this week that she and Brazilian fiancé Hermann Nicoli are expecting their second child. The South African expat, who is based in New York, was reportedly already two months pregnant – just not showing – when she took to the Shanghai, China, runway […]

The top thought on most South Africans’ minds seems to be that new ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa must recall Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa. Calls for a recall have come from opposition leaders through to the general public sharing jokes on social media (most of the same image of Ramaphosa and Zuma, with […]

Drought, protests, anger over the social grants payment system, and the collapse of Metrorail marked this year in South Africa. A man walks through Marikana in Philippi East, on 14 February 2017. A high-profile court case eventually resulted in the City of Cape Town being ordered to buy the land on which Marikana is located. […]

Rumours that President Jacob Zuma has instructed the South African National Defence Force to draw up plans for implementing a state of emergency may or may not be true. Nonetheless they are evidence of South Africa’s febrile political atmosphere. But any assumption that the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the new leader of the African […]

Watch below as President Jacob Zuma hears that his Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has won the ANC leadership race, and will replace him as ANC President instead of Zuma’s ex-wife Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. If a picture tells a thousand words, a video says even more… #ANC54 The Moment #Zuma hears #Ramaphosa is the new president […]

Team South Africa Roller Derby is heading to the Roller Derby World Cup in Manchester, in the UK, in February, and really needs our help to get there. Their fundraiser on Thundafund ends today – there are some really cool rewards and super cool advertising deals for potential sponsors. Here’s everything you never knew about […]

The value of the Rand has risen all day as the chance of Cyril Ramaphosa becoming the new ANC leader became apparent… and as the news was confirmed Monday evening that Ramaphosa is the leading party’s new President, the Rand stood at R12.73 to the US dollar, and R17.10 to the British pound. People around […]