Nelson Mandela calls Qunu in the Eastern Cape home, and it is where he has asked to be buried. In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, the struggle veteran describes leaving the village as a nine-year-old, to travel with his mother to an unknown destination. “I could see the simple huts and the people going about their chores; the stream […]

President Jacob Zuma met with Academy Award-winning actor and activist Charlize Theron in Pretoria on Monday. The two discussed South Africa’s response to HIV/Aids and Theron’s role in the fight against the disease. In 2008, the United Nations named South African-born Theron as its Messenger of Peace, tasked with promoting efforts to end violence against […]

By: Mary Alexander

Young Dirk Coetzee from the Northern Cape province has been named the co-winner of a competition that invited children to design a helmet for Andy Green, the daredevil who will be attempting to break his own land speed record in 2014/2015 in the Bloodhound SSC (supersonic car). Driving Bloodhound, Green, a wing commander in the Royal Air Force, […]

Many know Graça Machel as Nelson Mandela’s wife and the former first lady of both Mozambique and South Africa, but perhaps few recall that she was once a fiery young freedom fighter. Born Graça Simbine on 17 October 1945 in Gaza, Mozambique, Machel went to a Methodist mission school and then to the University of Lisbon on […]

Like having babies, you forget the pain, says super athlete Jeannie Dreyer, referring to her astonishing first-place finish in the 2 300km Freedom Challenge mountain bike race. The route starts in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, and ends in Wellington in Western Cape, and takes place at the end of June. Thirty-three-year-old Jeannie, a housewife and mother of two […]

Nelson Mandela is regarded by many as a man of wisdom and insight – his words have touched and inspired people all around the world. Taken from Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations, we present some of the inspirational sayings by the former president that have roused and touched many internationally. The book, […]

South African surf legend Shaun Tomson is launching his new book – The Code, the Power of ‘I Will’ – in California this week.  The code is a simple strategy for confronting everyday challenges and making positive, life-changing decisions. In the book, Shaun uses twelve of his personal stories to share the power of “I […]

Strictly Come Dancing kicked off to a scintillating start on Wednesday 10 July in South Africa…with its two new hosts – globally-adored comedian Marc Lottering, and popular South African TV presenter/actress/DJ Pabi Moloi. The show, which is based on a BBC format and aired in over 40 countries, is brought to South African screens by […]

Standing 6ft 4ins – 1.93 metres – tall, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a giant of a man whose life will again be immortalised on the silver screen, this time with the focus on his earlier years through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. The political activist not only united […]

A comprehensive timeline of the life of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, activist, political prisoner, president of South Africa, statesman and world icon of peace and justice. 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s 18 July 1918 – Nelson Mandela is born in Mvezo, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. His mother, Nosekeni Fanny, was one of four wives of his father, Gadla Henry […]

South African President Zuma has denied media reports that the former President Nelson Mandela is in a vegetative state. The President’s office clarified that Madiba remains under the care of a multi-disciplinary panel of South African medical experts who are attending to him on a 24-hour basis. President Zuma visited Mandela in hospital yesterday afternoon […]

The first time Kesivan Naidoo saw Nelson Mandela on television was 23 years ago, when the former president was released from prison. The jazz drummer was just 10 years old at the time and was oblivious to how that moment, 11 February 1990, would shape the way he made music in his adult life. Now […]

On his six-day tour of Africa, US president Barack Obama talked about increasing trade and accelerating economic growth, but his mere presence may have sent another message; that despite China’s increasing presence on the continent, the US is still here and it still wants to do business with Africa. This is according to Catherine Grant-Makokera, […]

Known to many as the man who liberated South Africa from apartheid, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, whose clan name is Madiba, is a world-class icon recognised for his integrity and his will to fight for the freedom that we relish today. One way of understanding the man is to explore the countryside in which he grew […]

South African father of two, Brett Archibald, made headlines when he fell off a boat near Indonesia in the middle of the night…and survived to tell the tale 29 hours later. His story caught the attention of TV Shows like ’60 Minutes’, and the hearts of companies like Dr Pepper who have made him their […]

President Zuma has called upon all South Africans to demonstrate their love and appreciation for ailing former President Nelson Mandela by making this year’s Mandela Day the biggest ever.  He urged the nation to start preparing now for July 18, the day that Mandela is due to turn 95.   Zuma encouraged South Africans to […]

Dewald van Dyk’s shoes lie in the murky depths of Westdene Dam in Johannesburg. They have been there since 1985, when he dived into the dark waters again and again to pull out children whose school bus went into the dam. Van Dyk was a paramedic at the time, and he was part of the […]

Dennis Brutus pensively stroked his silver beard with both hands, thinking about the time in 1959 when Brazilian football club Portuguesa Santista were planning to visit South Africa to play against an all-white Western Province team. The Brazilian side was willing to drop their black players for the visit, in deference to apartheid, he said. […]

South African Jarred Gaskin was 17 years old when he was chosen to play for Arsenal Football Club’s youth team in England. He returned to his home in Johannesburg and was given two months to apply for British citizenship, which would allow him to play there. But within that two months, Gaskin got involved with […]

  Triggerfish is already Africa’s largest animation studio, and with world-class features like Zambezia (2012) and Khumba (2013) under its belt, the company is now in the big league and the sky is by far NOT the limit. Headed up by award-winning animator Stuart Forrest, this 3D animation studio now has its sights on competing with industry bigwigs such as […]

Commemorative events will take place in Alexandra township, the suburb of Westdene in north-western Johannesburg, and Soweto, where the original uprising began. Johannesburg’s executive mayor Parks Tau will unveil a plaque early on the morning of 16 June after a march from the Alexandra High School to the Realugile School in Alexandra, in memory of […]

Not many young people these days think of becoming a plumber. But Daniel Duda did and now he has the world at his feet. The 23-year-old is preparing to go to Los Angeles to deliver a talk at the Leap Foundation at the University of California, Los Angeles. It is a youth leadership programme where, […]

  His mother dropped out of school to have him when she was 18. He went to school in the townships, where his family lived in an RDP house. Today, 22-year-old Wandile Mabanga is writing his master’s dissertation in a field of quantum physics so specialised there are only two people in the world qualified […]

Former Capetonian Stelio Savante is making history in a lead role filmed in Equatorial Guinea. This is the first feature film to ever be shot in the small African country that’s usually more famous for its despotic regime than its movie-making industry.  Savante, one of South Africa’s top acting exports, stars in “Where the Road […]