From an email doing the rounds Some years ago a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in South Africa. The Mayor of the South African town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor he wondered how he could afford such a house. The […]

Nigeria’s Central Bank governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, has been voted Africa’s Person of the Year 2011 by Forbes Africa, beating two Nobel laureates, a former president and the richest man in Africa. Sanusi masterminded the recovery of Nigeria’s financial sector by introducing radical reforms when he started his tenure as governor of the country’s central bank […]

About eight years ago, a South African couple left their home comforts to set out on a journey of a lifetime that would be the envy of many spirited adventurers. Now they are making their way back home, and they have many stories to tell. Iain Manley and Claire van den Heever have written an absorbing travelogue […]

South African Michaela Mycroft has won the 2011 International Children’s Peace Prize, the junior equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. Chaeli, as she is fondly known, won the award for championing the causes of the disabled – something the 17-year-old has been doing since she was nine. Mycroft knows first-hand what it’s like to live with […]

Invasion biologist Prof Dave Richardson of Stellenbosch University (SU) is the 2012 recipient of the John FW Herschel Medal, a top award of the Royal Society of South Africa. The prestigious award honours Richardson’s multidisciplinary contribution to science in South Africa through his internationally recognised work on the ecology and management of invasive species. The award is […]

A celebrated batsman and an accomplished bowler, South African-born all-rounder Basil D’Oliveira passed away in England, his adopted country for over four decades. He died on 19 November, aged 80, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. The global cricketing community has reacted to the news with grief, and tributes have been carried in press publications […]

The prestigious Sydney Film Festival now has South African expertise to take it to greater heights, with the appointment of local programmer Nashen Moodley as its new director. Moodley, the former film programmer of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), brings a wealth of experience to the Australian event, after a decade at the helm of the […]

Table Mountain has been announced as one of the New7Wonders of Nature along with the Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo and Puerto Princesa Underground River. In 2008, Table Mountain was identified as one of 440 magnificent natural sites selected by the New7Wonders Foundation to enter the three-phase New7Wonders of Nature contest. In […]

Scott Ramsay is writing a blog, Year in the Wild, as he travels through South Africa’s national and provincial parks. He posts about his experiences and observations daily and keeps the conversation going with friends and followers via Facebook and Twitter. Increasingly drawn to the call of the outdoors, the former sales rep packed up his belongings, and […]

Capetonian Jo Maxwell – also known as ‘The Queen’ by those close to her – talks to sapeople about her brilliantly unique sleeping  bag invention…which tends to put a smile on everyone’s face. Jo invented The Good Night and God Bless Waterproof sleeping bags back in 2005 as a temporary emergency measure for night shelters, […]

The world expert on Positive Organisational Scholarship (POS) will be visiting the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) during the last week of January 2012. South African CEO’s and their Executive Teams are invited to attend a one-day national CEO Conference that will be held in Nelson Mandela Bay. POS expert Kim Cameron, who hails from […]

A South Africa-based company has launched a new search engine which is run purely on green energy. In addition, through a number of strategic partnerships, the company – Ads4Trees – will be planting 1 tree for every 500 searches conducted by users. The search engine is linked to a fully-featured pay-per-click ad network and is […]

In a bid to develop a thriving entrepreneurial hub, Cape Town city management is encouraging citizens to improve their business knowledge with the hosting of Cape Town Entrepreneurship Week (CTEW) later this month. The event, which is part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, will take place at the Cape Town City Hall between 15 and 21 November. […]

Sandton-born Odette Warder is a model turned actress who’s currently carving an acting and film production career for herself in the USA. Odette grew up in Margate on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, but emigrated to New Zealand with her husband in 2007 before relocating to Manhattan, New York in order to pursue her dream […]

Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, has had a ‘whale’ of a time in South Africa where he was accompanied by his wife Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall. South Africa, a member of the Commonwealth, was included as one of the Prince’s destinations in his Autumn Tour 2011, along with Kuwait, Qatar, and […]

Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio are poised to jet into Durban for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in three weeks time. They’ll be joined at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) by a glittering assortment of other celebrities including movie star and fomer Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former US vice-president and active environmental […]

A huge congratulations to South Africa’s Nashen Moodley who has been appointed Director of Australia’s Sydney Film Festival, making him the first Director that the Australians have ‘imported’. And, as Durbanites know, he’s worth it! Fast-talking movie maestro Nashen has played a crucial role in the development and management of the Durban International Film Festival […]

South African veteran sports photographer Wessel Oosthuizen has been honoured at an exhibition in New Zealand, where his image was rated second out of 120 submissions. Oosthuizen’s photo was part of the Union: The Heart of Rugby exhibition at Auckland City Hall, which took place during the recent Rugby World Cup. The display was viewed by […]

Social media has gone mainstream in South Africa, with both individuals and businesses embracing the available platforms and the average age of users steadily increasing as more people become connected and networks mature. These and other findings were released in a study by Fuseware and World Wide Worx, titled South African Social Media Landscape 2011. The publication throws […]

A South African artist is using art to bring about social change and transform the suburb of Woodstock in Cape Town with colourful murals. Ricky-Lee Gordon, known by his pseudonym Freddy Sam, is best described as a creative activist who initiates projects to inspire people and change lives. “It is my intention to explore my community […]

South African fine arts graduate Roelf Daling is this year’s winner of a prestigious national competition that encourages artists to think creatively about using cement as an artistic medium. The Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Young Concrete Sculptor Awards (YCSA) is a long-standing concrete sculpture event on South Africa’s art calendar. The YCSA has been running for […]

President Zuma has urged the international business community to “look towards Africa and invest in employment-creating growth”.  Zuma was addressing international businessmen, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, during his trip to the G-20 Summit in Cannes, South of France. South Africa is the only country from the African continent in the G-20 (Group of Twenty), […]

Jewellery design students from the Durban University of Technology (DUT) have proven their creative worth by coming third in the PlatAfrica 2011 design competition. The competition, sponsored by Anglo Platinum (Amplats) in conjunction with Metal Concentrators and Johnson Matthey, culminated in an awards ceremony at Arena Royale in Fourways, Johannesburg, on 22 October 2011. The theme for this year’s […]

Eastern Cape-born Cecil Afrika, top points and try scorer in the 2010/2011 HSBC Sevens World Series, was recently named the International Rugby Board‘s (IRB) Sevens Player of the Year. The award ceremony took place at the Vektor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on 24 October, following the successful completion of the seventh Rugby World Cup which was […]

Team South Africa put in an impressive performance at the 20th Precision Flying World Championships, recently held in North West province, demonstrating how accurately and safely local pilots can handle aircraft without the aid of modern technology. South Africa came second in the team landing category, with squad member Hans Schwebel being named the runner-up […]