The Solms Delta wine estate in Franschhoek, in the Western Cape, goes by a tag line that says the farm is much more than just a wine estate. True to its word, Solms-Delta does not only produce classical wines, but classical music as well. The wine estate is located in the picturesque Franschhoek Valley, a […]

A set of five limited-edition lithograph prints of Robben Island prison scenes painted by South African statesman Nelson Mandela over 13 years ago fetched £13 500 – over R240 000 – at Bellmans Auctioneers in West Sussex, England, on Wednesday 8 October. Mandela, who died last year at the age of 95, spent 18 of […]

Type “is Africa ” into Google and auto complete is likely to offer something like this: That’s right: questions of hopelessness or ignorance that could only come from outside the continent. (The answer to all four, by the way, is no.) For too long external perspectives have determined Africa’s narrative by only telling stories of […]

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary since Mark B*’s son was taken from him by his wife in a kidnapping situation which has become increasingly common for South Africans who live abroad, when one parent wishes to return to SA…and which is part of the motivation by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to implement stricter border controls […]

Photographer Nic Aberdein captured these awesome photos during the recent swell in Durban. Experienced local big wave charger Ricky Basnett welcomed the conditions… Grant Twiggy Baker cashed in on every surfer’s perfect dream… Durban charger Murray Holland was on a nugget! Morning view of another perfect day in Surf city… Wave selection was vital! Not all the […]

The baby balm market is big business, if the success of South African start-up Oh- lief is anything to go by. The natural and organic beauty and baby product range went from being a modest home-based word-of-mouth success to an international brand in just four years, earning founders Louiza Rademan and Christine Buchanan R1-million from […]

Joy Activist and Laughter Coach, Sue Jameson, has just laughed her way into first place – in an international competition – with her brilliant proposal that will help turn Joburg, the so-called Unfriendliest city in the world, into JoyBurg, the city of Joy. Sue had been saddened to read that Joburg  had been named as the unfriendliest […]

Still Life with African Woman, a work by South African ​expressionist Irma Stern, fetched R17,6-million at an art auction in London on Wednesday. The Bonhams London’s biannual South African sale was dominated by Stern once again, with nine of her paintings on sale. African Woman, in a replica Zanzibari frame, fetched the top price of £962 500. […]

When you’re a South African living abroad, a road trip back home can take on an aura of magic and wonder as you see your former homeland through new, more appreciative eyes. After living elsewhere, you now realise the raw and unique beauty that is South Africa. You see a magnified kaleidoscope of sensational scenes.  Your heart […]

Renewable energy spells big things for South Africa’ economic future, if sustainable and affordable solutions are found. Working towards making solar power a feasible source of motoring energy, the Sasol Solar Challenge invites renewable energy addicts from across the globe to compete in an eight-day country-wide endurance challenge. Held every two years under the auspices […]

Storytelling is the new rock n roll, says Rian Malan. Known for his own expert storytelling, his latest project, with Ann Toerien, is bringing out the stories of Johannesburg. Invited artists will tell their tales of the city of gold in The Unbelievable Truth, four themed evenings about life in Jozi. To some, Johannesburg is […]

Photographic prize winner Rob Tarr and his partner Louise van den Aardweg have recently returned to Cape Town from what they describe as the trip of a lifetime: a nine-day ship-based photographic expedition for two, deep into the Arctic. Rob won this fantastic prize in the Oceans of Life annual photographic competition, organized by Birdlife South […]

A software application developed by the University of Cape Town to monitor patients on treatment for HIV and TB treatment is being implemented by countries such as Mozambique, Malawi, Vietnam and Pakistan. The electronic register, developed by UCT’s Centre for Infectious Disease, Epidemiology and Research (CIDER), is already in use in 3½000 clinics in South […]

    Property group Mantis Collection is hooking up with one of Cape Town’s most visited tourist destinations, The Cape Wheel, and conservation organisation Wilderness Foundation to help save the rhino.  A brainchild of Mantis Collection owner Adrian Gardiner, the campaign will see R5 of every adult and family entry ticket to The Cape Wheel […]

At only 20-years-old South African Caspar Lee is a YouTube millionaire, living in London, who’s just starred in his first movie (with John Cleese), done an internet show with “living legend” Lisa Kudrow (from ‘Friends’), appeared on BBC Radio One and delivered his first live stand-up comedy routine. His routine begins with the words “hi, […]

To celebrate National Heritage Day,  here’s a collection of  some of South Africa’s most fabulous indigenous flowers (including SA’s national flower, the King Protea)…as seen at the Sunday Tribune Garden Show in Pietermaritzburg this past weekend. (Update: View more indigenous flowers of South Africa, 2016.) All photographs by Lorraine Scholfield (thank you!).  Strelizia Regina The […]

South Africa has launched a three-year incentive scheme to help black filmmakers develop their businesses to the point they can take on big productions – and create more jobs in the country’s growing movie industry. Trade and industry minister Rob Davies launched the South African Emerging Black Filmmakers Incentive Programme on 16 September. The programme, […]

Telling stories is an integral part of human life. It forges bonds, builds understanding and brings people together to celebrate their differences and similarities. And, of course, everyone has a story to tell about their experiences and heritage. To celebrate Heritage Month, the government recently launched the Tell Your Story campaign, to encourage South Africans to […]

“The history of our country is characterised by too much forgetting,” Nelson Mandela once lamented. The new Rainbow Makers series of documentaries aims to both help us remember the extraordinary stories, often untold, that shaped our road to democracy – and celebrate our 20 years of freedom. The four-part series, a project of the African […]

Fellow South Africans, I am greatly saddened to announce that 67 South Africans died and scores of others sustained injuries, after a building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed on Friday, 12 September 2014, in Lagos, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is a particularly difficult time for South Africa. Not in […]

Following the South African Rugby Union’s (SARU) new Transformation Strategic Plan in which SARU wants to ensure that by 2019 at least half the Springbok side consists of players of colour, with 60 % of those being black African, Max du Preez writes that we can’t only pick those parts of the constitution we like. With the permission […]

A Durban film, co-starring Capetonian Stelio Savante and SA child actor Sizo Motsoko, has been chosen as an Official Selection for the 2014 San Diego Film Festival where it will make its world premier. ‘Where the Road Runs Out’ made history when it became the first feature ever filmed in the small African country of Equatorial Guinea […]

Several people in South Africa were upset by the controversial broadcast on Sunday night of a segment by Carte Blanche that cast doubt over the rhino horn infusion method. In a country where latest statistics show that over 700 rhino have already been poached this year and that their future is precarious, many viewers expressed concern that the […]

As the exchange between the ANC and the Public Protector’s office heats up following a letter from Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to President Jacob Zuma being leaked to the press, South Africans around the country have taken to social media to send their own message to the country’s president – “pay back the money” (please). The […]

Following the Australian Brumbies’ tour of South Africa in May this year, super rugby player Clyde Rathbone wrote about the realisation of his own “complicity in the exploitation of Africa’s wildlife” after he and his team mates visited a lion park in South Africa. His article – highlighting the plight of many cubs who will be taken […]