They normally wear overalls and are wielding shovels, but on Wednesday 24 women who repair Cape Town’s roads as part of a new programme put on civvies to be honored by the mayor. The women are part of a growing programme to, as Mayor Patricia de Lille put it, “empower women, achieve gender transformation, and show […]

Despite the obvious protestations of his clients, a ranger in Kruger National Park got out of the safari vehicle at night and kicked a pangolin when it closed into a ball in fright and to protect itself. “No, no,” a woman called out from the vehicle, when she saw what the ranger was about to […]

Back in 2000, Los Angeles native Samantha O’Keefe took a major chance on a winemaking career and an untested wine region when she purchased a farm in South Africa’s Overberg. Today, her Lismore Estate Vineyards wines consistently achieve 90+ ratings from Robert Parker and other industry heavyweights, and she’s considered a pioneer of a region […]

A 3-day countrywide stayaway in Zimbabwe starting on Wednesday to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s policies reportedly resulted in the government bringing out its military and clamping down on certain media, which led to Anonymous Africa shutting down the ruling party’s ZANU-PF website. “To show our support for the heroic protests happening on the ground,” Anonymous […]

PRETORIA – South African Paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius was sent to prison for six years on Wednesday for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, the latest twist in a trial that has gripped the world. The state and large sections of the South African public had called for him to receive no […]

PRETORIA – Former Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was on Wednesday sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, less than the prescribed minimum of 15 years because of mitigating circumstances. Judge Thokozile Masipa made her sentence known at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. “A long term of […]

Well-known South African casting director Moonyeenn Lee is the first South African to be included on the panel of movie people around the world who will chose the next Oscar winners. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which presides over the annual Oscars, named its 683 new panel members last week. It has been a […]

Watch the sentencing of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius live today. The former Olympian and Paralympian was found guilty of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013, after an earlier ruling of culpable homicide was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal last year. Today’s proceedings, with […]

The ANC’s key person for communications affairs, Jackson Mthembu, led a fiery media briefing on Tuesday to discuss possible censorship at the SABC, where he laid into COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, said the ANC was meeting with the minister responsible for the SABC on Monday, that the SABC lacked the proper leadership and was in crisis, and that the […]

South African Lidudumalingani from Cape Town has won the coveted Caine Prize for African Writing for his story set in the Eastern Cape, “Memories We Lost”, it was announced in England on Monday night. Described as Africa’s leading literary award, the story published by Burnet Media in its 2015 collection “An Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You”, was announced […]

She’s at it again. South African minister of foreign affairs Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who in May had a highly publicised interview with an Al Jazeera journalist where she explained how she had a hole in her head, has said she does not know about Brexit. Shortly after reports of International Development and Cooperation minister Mashabane’s comments reached the press, a department spokesman […]

An ad by the Democratic Alliance that has been criticised by Nelson Mandela’s grandson for using the former ANC leader’s voice has been seen over 100,000 times on YouTube and Facebook in two days, the DA said on Monday. The ad shows a young mother leaving home with her child to go to the polls, whereupon they […]

JOHANNESBURG – Delays have been experienced at OR Tambo International Airport because of the rollout of the new biometric system to collect data on people arriving and leaving South Africa. Reports on Friday said that delays at the Johannesburg airport were up to two hours long, although no reports have been received from the weekend. Chris Zweigenthal of […]

Since the SA Broadcasting Corporation’s acting CEO Jimi Matthews resigned a week ago Monday over the “corrosive atmosphere” at the public broadcaster, the chaos at the SABC continues, with protests outside its offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and an apparent turnaround by the ANC over its support for the man who’s apparently causing all the trouble, […]

In a new article that exposes Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane to a world audience – calling him charismatic and saying he’s been dubbed “the Obama of Soweto” – Newsweek magazine posits the question in its headline: “Could Mmusi Maimane Be South Africa’s Next President?” The article includes a video interview with Maimane during a visit to […]

In a week when journalists protested outside the SABC, the broadcaster suspended several employees for not respecting ‘editorial’ processes, the acting CEO resigned because of “the corrosive atmosphere” at the broadcaster, South Africans can reasonably ask: What next? What other sectors should they be prepared to defend in the coming months from state over-enthusiasm? If the government sticks to its plan […]

According to the Kruger National Park, the young teenager who was attacked by a hyena in their Crocodile Bridge Camp is “making remarkable progress”. However there are reports that he has lost one of his eyes. Erco (Boela) Janse van Rensburg – from Centurion, Pretoria, was camping with his parents, Erno and Cashandra, and his […]

The South African population has grown to 55.65 million in the past five years, according to the latest survey by the department of statistics. In the Community Survey figures released on Thursday, Statistics South Africa said the population grew from 51,770,560 in 2011 to 55,653,654, about 3.88 million. There are 27,247,226 males and in 28,406,428 females. The population […]

WASHINGTON – A fatal accident in which the driver of a Tesla Motors Inc Model S car operating in Autopilot mode was killed in a collision with a truck has prompted an investigation by federal highway safety regulators, the U.S. government and Tesla disclosed on Thursday. The investigation of the first known fatality to involve […]

The City of Tshwane has received international recognition this week in Liverpool, England, winning the World Wi-Fi Day Award for Most Innovative City or Government Program to bridge the Digital Divide. An award in this category recognizes cities, governments and organizations that develop local and national plans to bridge the digital divide. The Tshwane Free […]

A growing number of international tour companies refusing to promote elephant riding is putting South Africa’s elephant-back safari industry under pressure to pack in the lucrative but unethical/questionable practice of riding elephants. With an increasing global awareness for the welfare issues and cruel training methods associated with elephant-back riding, a drive to end the practice […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa cleared Anheuser-Busch Inbev’s $100 billion-plus deal to acquire SABMiller on Thursday, putting the world’s largest brewer “on track” to complete the merger within the next six months. The Competition Tribunal, which gives the final word on mergers in Africa’s most industrialised country, said in a statement that concessions made by AB […]

Almost 360 pupils from a high school in Joburg’s Alexandra township that has achieved a high matric pass rate for two years running have received bicycles as part of a project to expand the mobility – and thus the productivity – of ordinary South Africans. The township was identified for the Urban Scholar Bicycle project because of the transport […]

Johannesburg is apparently awash with blue as Democratic Alliance (DA) supporters have gathered for the unveiling of the ‘Jobs Not Jets’ billboard, which ANC supporters had allegedly attempted to halt… even throwing rocks. The DA reported an hour ago that the “atmosphere is INCREDIBLE at our billboard unveiling in Joburg. South Africans want JOBS, NOT […]

American multinational General Electric (GE) has invested R500 million in its GE Africa Innovation Centre in Rosebank, Johannesburg, the tenth innovation hub set up globally but a first for GE in Africa. The 2,700 square-metre facility, which was 90 percent designed, built and executed in the country, houses GE’s innovation across Africa within its key business sectors […]