Pretoria – The number of people that received services from municipalities increased between 2014 and 2015, says Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). Stats SA on Tuesday released the results of the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities (NMCF) for the year ended June 2015. The NFCM measures selected aspects of service delivery, including water, electricity, solid waste […]

A fire has torn down one of Durban’s largest churches. In a message on social media late Tuesday, the eThekwini Municipality said: “A vicious fire has ripped through the popular Durban Christian Centre at Buro Crescent in Durban this evening.” (See Update below.) The municipality said that Durban’s Fire and Emergency teams had done a sterling job and that, […]

Judging by the looks on the faces of President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, there’s a lot to smile about regarding the state of South Africa’s economy. The two politicians, and their teams, met today to discuss the economy. The Presidency’s office released these photos (on this page) of the meeting. The South […]

Former premier of Mpumalanga – and still an African National Congress member – Mathews Phosa has said in a wide-ranging interview that corruption is systemic in the ANC. “It’s become systemic in municipal government, provincial government, national government,” said Phosa, one of the few high-profile ANC members to repeatedly criticise the party in public. He was talking to […]

The possibility of a direct air link between the United States and Cape Town seems to be hotting up after discussions between key players, according to news reports on Monday. The city in the US most mentioned in reports for a direct flight to Cape Town seems to be Miami, Florida, which is on the east coast […]

A new six-part mini-series based on the life of Nelson Mandela and starring an international and South African cast has started shooting in Johannesburg. The cast for the BET series “Madiba”, which includes American Laurence Fishburne (the “Matrix” series, “Contagion”, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”) as Mandela and Orlando Jones as Oliver Tambo, will also showcase […]

When South Africa goes to the polls for the next municipal elections on 3 August, a record number of voters will be eligible to cast their ballots, 11 percent more than in 2011 – or 26.3-million. The increase of 2.68 million voters means that 77 percent of eligible citizens are now registered to vote, according to Mosotho Moepya, the […]

The great, sclerotic, overlarge creaking machinery that is the African National Congress ground its way into Soweto on Saturday afternoon, thrashing everything in its way – including meaning. It’s a thing to behold, the ANC, as its legions make their way off buses into the country’s signature football stadium: for a moment in the shimmering […]

South African Jonathan Shapiro, better known by the name he draws under, Zapiro, has been named one of the 10 best cartoonists in the world by an American publication, coming in near the top, at No. 2. The online publication Top Ten said, “Whether the cartoons (of the 10) are created for political commentary, advertising, entertainment or […]

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has been thanked today by many social media commenters for doing their utmost to overcome violent protests in Durban. This morning – on a day some are calling “Bloody Monday” – several Durban motorists were pelted with stones, roads were blocked after tyres were set alight, and a car dealership was set […]

In a followup to a combative interview she had with South African journalist Jane Dutton on Al Jazeera just over a week ago that went viral, the South African minister of foreign affairs said Dutton was not being a journalist during the interview and she was only defending her country. “She took her gloves off and became a South […]

On Friday Parliament opened the nomination process for a successor to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, whose seven-year term comes to an end in October. Nominations have to be made by 4 pm on 24 June. Members of the public and organisations have been asked to nominate suitable candidates. The community organisation Corruption Watch said on […]

JOHANNESBURG – The United States warned its citizens on Saturday of possible attacks by Islamist militants on U.S. facilities or shopping malls in South Africa during the upcoming month of Ramadan, but the South African government said the country was safe. It was the second such warning in under a year from the embassy, which issued […]

Voluntary unpaid animal and conservation lovers working in tandem with the national parks contributed a record R48 million in services and money over the past year, SANParks Honorary Rangers said this week. In a statement on Wednesday, SANParks said it welcomed the R48 million “in cash, kind and services” in its 21 national parks done […]

Pretoria – South Africans are celebrating this evening as ratings agency Standard & Poor’s have announced that South Africa’s credit rating will be kept unchanged at investment grade, averting junk status. South Africans had been counting down the hours to the announcement although Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, had said he believed the country had done enough to pass […]

South African Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at a ceremony in South Africa yesterday evening. German ambassador, Walter Lindner said the award – which is the highest bestowed by the German government to individuals for services to the nation – is “well deserved”. […]

The South African contingent performed spectacularly in Rome today with Wayde van Niekerk, Sunette Viljoen and Caster Semenya ALL winning gold in their events. The SA team was competing in the 2016 International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League (IAAF DL) event in Italy, the fifth leg of the international track and field campaign. Caster Semenya, who was tipped […]

South African athlete Wayde van Niekerk has won the 400m in Rome, Italy, this evening. In an interview this week he said his focus now is on the 400m… and he meant it! Wayde – who made sprinting history in March when he became the first man to ever run faster than 10 seconds for 100m, […]

The success of Emirates’ anti-poaching wildlife message has truly gone sky-high with the fifth A380 to join the campaign unveiled on Monday… although this jet will be grounded! It will be featured at the famous traffic roundabout leading to London’s Heathrow airport. The site – as most South Africans who’ve travelled to London know – is […]

Cape Town’s well-known adventure park and scary-ride central Ratanga Junction will close and be replaced by a R1 billion development in the successful Century City precinct, according to news reports on Wednesday. The 20-hectare theme park would close by 2018, a spokeswoman for the Rabie property group, developers of Century City, was quoted saying. The […]

The Western Cape has received the highest percentage of clean audits of its municipalities, scoring 73 percent, with the next-nearest provinces, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, getting 30 percent or just over, according to a report by the auditor general released on Wednesday. “Today’s release of the Auditor-General’s (A-G) audit report into municipal financial management for 2014/15 […]

As more and more celebrities like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian – and even US First Lady Michelle Obama – wear their African designs, South African and other African designers are turning heads in the fashion world. From Ankara print dresses to Xhosa-inspired cardigans, these hip designs are not just hitting the catwalks but also store shelves. While designers […]

JOHANNESBURG – The world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev gained conditional approval on Tuesday for its $100 billion-plus acquisition of SABMiller from South African anti-trust regulators, bringing the deal closer to fruition. Conditions attached to the deal include a binding one that no South African employee be laid off because of the merger, the Competition Commission […]

The involvement of international, sophisticated criminal groups in wildlife crime has been confirmed in the World Wildlife Crime Report – the first ever global assessment of wildlife crime, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report shows what a devastating impact corruption has had, and concludes that “trafficking of wildlife is increasingly […]

In a heated and sometimes odd exchange with the South African journalist Jane Dutton on Al Jazeera, SA’s Minister of International Relations and Co-operation said she had a hole in her head from carrying water buckets when she was a child, that she had a lot of respect for President Jacob Zuma, and expressed disinterest in the […]