Congratulations to Natalie du Toit who won South Africa’s first gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympics yesterday! She clocked a winning time of 1 minute 09.30 seconds in the women’s 100 m butterfly final. The Capetonian swimmer, whose left leg was amputated in 2001 following an accident, has already been congratulated by South Africa’s […]

Whistles, wigs, well-wishes and a sense of wonder greeted Team South Africa for the official flag-raising ceremony in the Paralympic Village. Team South Africa was one of five countries to attend of the numerous flag-raising ceremonies ahead of  the official opening of the Games. As was the case at the Olympics a few weeks back, […]

Whistles, wigs, well-wishes and a sense of wonder greeted Team South Africa for the official flag-raising ceremony in the Paralympic Village. Team South Africa was one of five countries to attend of the numerous flag-raising ceremonies ahead of  the official opening of the Games. As was the case at the Olympics a few weeks back, […]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pulled out of a South African event at the last minute because he does not want to share a platform with Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was due to speak at The Discovery Invest Leadership Summit on 30 August at the Sandton Convention Centre, along […]

Vote to help Johannesburg art activist get to TED California finals with her ‘pillow talk’…a bed the whole town can share…even TED! On the edge of the inner city in a much-loved area of Troyeville, lies a concrete bed in a park overlooking the main route (Bezuidenhout) into Johannesburg from the east. Passers-by and the […]

Come January 2013, tourists and locals in Johannesburg will get a chance to see the city in a way they have never done before. Bright red, open-topped buses will ferry passengers through an experience of the everyday sights and sounds, cultures and heritage of the city as part of a new tour operation by a […]

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s (NMMU) business school has been named an international business leader at the third annual Asia’s Best Business Schools award ceremony, held in Singapore in July. The awards are organised by the World Brand Congress and CMO Asia, which is an arm of the California-based CMO Council, a peer network of marketing executives […]

Dr Megan Russell is using her engineering knowledge to find practical solutions to the problems of healthcare in poorer countries by helping develop medical technology appropriate for more primitive conditions. This young South African’s enthusiasm for engineering earned her a place on this year’s Mail & Guardian newspaper list of 200 remarkable young South Africans, an […]

Every first Wednesday of the month, alternative cinema enthusiasts in Johannesburg are treated to a host of indie films at Atlas Studios in Milpark, northeast of the city centre. It’s an opportunity to watch films that are not on the main cinema circuit. Founded in 2004, the First Wednesday Film Club (FWFC) is also a networking […]

Ten years after Zakes Mda’s acclaimed novel The Madonna of Excelsior was published in 2002, a theatre adaptation is now ready for South African theatre audiences. The play is directed by Netherlands-based Roel Twijnstra and South African playwright and director Jerry Pooe. It opens on 15 August at the Andre Huguenet theatre in Bloemfontein and runs until 18 […]

From an email doing the rounds! Check out the snow on the N1 between Laingsburg and Beaufort West last week…

Congratulations to Team SA – the athletes, coaches and administrators – for a fantastic Olympic performance! With a final tally of six medals, this made London Olympics 2012 the most successful Olympics South Africa has enjoyed since its re-admission to international sport 20 years ago, in Barcelona back in 1992. Amongst the medals and the […]

Yesterday 7th August 2012 will be remembered by many, for years to come, as a magical day in various parts of South Africa…when the snow fell…and turned parts of SA into a white winter wonderland. Jo’burg became Snowburg as it experienced snow for only the 22nd time in the last 103 years! Professional photographer Kim […]

South Africa’s children have a powerful ally fighting for their rights. In and out of the court room South African advocate Prof Ann Skelton is doing ground-breaking work to advance the rights of children and bring about changes to the country’s juvenile justice system. In honour of Skelton’s work over the past 25 years to […]

Teenage ballet dancer Michaela DePrince survived a brutal civil war, adapted to a new life in a faraway country, and overcame numerous challenges to excel in a white-dominated art form. Today she’s regarded as one of the US’s most promising young artists. DePrince is African by birth, born in the West African country of Sierra […]

From an email doing the rounds… Why is Curry so popular? Please take time to read this excerpt slowly. If you pay attention to the first two judges, the reaction of the third judge is even better. For those of you who have lived in Natal, you know how typical this is! They actually have a Curry […]

From an email doing the rounds: If the words are a little too blurry for you, here’s a transcript: The real Africa is the one they never show you. The real Africa is hidden beneath veneer of poverty and hunger and death,a cancerous mass on the face of the earth that the rest of the […]

As the world prepares to honour Nelson Mandela on his 94th birthday, many wonder what meal would mean the most to the former statesman on this great day. Xoliswa Ndoyiya was Nelson Mandela’s personal cook for 20 years; a career that began two years after the former statesman was released from prison in 1990 after […]

South African wildlife is in the news for a good reason, with the recent announcement that two local productions have been shortlisted for the 2012 Wildscreen Panda Awards, part of the UK’s Wildscreen environmental and wildlife film festival. The two films are Saving Rhino Phila, produced by NHU Africa, and Survival Stars: Home Sweet Home, an Earth-Touch production. Each is […]

  South Africa’s athletes will be walking out in style at the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London, in a kit created by Durban designer Leigh Schubert. It was up to South Africans to decide which kit makes it onto the field, and the public voted overwhelmingly in favour of Schubert’s striking […]

Jonathan Shapiro has been taken to court over some of his most controversial cartoons of the past few years – the most notable being a depiction of several African National Congress leaders in a compromising situation with Lady Justice – but his doggedness has won him the 2012 Freedom to Publish Award. Zapiro, as Shapiro is more […]

The team heading off to the 2012 Olympic Games in London at the end of July has been finalised. The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) announced the full team of 125 athletes on 4 July, with 13 extra names added to the initial 112 publicised in June. “Finally, we have a complete squad!” […]

What does it mean to be a South African? Brand South Africa, together with the Department of Arts and Culture, is trying to find the answer. In a world first, the search is on for the Formula of a South African (FormulaSA), a unique equation that looks at the country’s progress since the inception of democracy and into […]

WELCOME HOME Debbie Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari! The two South Africans are finally back in SA after being kidnapped by Somali pirates for 20 months. The couple was captured by the pirates at the entrance to the Mozambique / Madagascar Channel as they were on their way to meet their first grandchild in South Africa. […]

Zenobia Baumgarten is not only a woman with a zest for life, but she loves to share that zest with others. Baumgarten is the 2012 winner of Total South Africa’s Eco Pioneer competition – and a handy R20 000 (US$2 400) – for her use of natural and recycled materials to decorate her home. In her […]