After a good start in Johannesburg in 2016, and plans for a big roll-out across South Africa for as many as 200 stores, which didn’t happen, Starbucks Coffee said it is finally opening in Cape Town. Adrian Maizey, owner and CEO of Rand Capital Coffee, the custodian of Starbucks in Southern Africa, said he was […]

On 24 October, Cape Town will host the 2020 Miss South Africa contest, the first time the event has been held in the Mother City. The top 10 finalists were revealed on 5 August (see the video below). The venue in Cape Town still has to be announced. Miss South Africa organisers said the event […]

A public forum has been launched to get taxi operators, drivers and civil society to engage with government on a plan to regulate the taxi industry. Taxis often come in for much criticism for disobeying the rules of the road, unlicensed drivers, and violence. So there will be lots to talk about from the public’s […]

Lots of hospitals have been posting their staff doing the #JerusalemaChallenge – a great way to keep spirits up – but the latest, from Western Cape’s Red Cross War Memorial Hospital, is one of the best. Red Cross Hospital: [MUST WATCH] The team at the Red Cross War Memorial Childrens Hospital doing the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge! 👏🏼 […]

Virgin Active announced today that it would open at 5 a.m. on Monday, 24 August. However, this still depends on the government releasing gym protocols before then. Virgin said that although other gyms had opened already, it was waiting for the protocols from government. The opening of gyms was announced as part of moving to […]

Despite promises by Cyril Ramaphosa to run a clean administration and a statement by the African National Congress that it is embarrassed by corruption, the former mayor of Durban, who was sacked from the position by the ANC a year ago and is facing corruption charges, is the latest tainted official to be reappointed into […]

A COVID donation of medical material and personal protection equipment from the French government arrived in South Africa today. The donation consists of single-channel infusion pumps, material for intensive care units and medical isolation gowns, worth a total of R 1,8 million, according to a post by the French Embassy on Twitter. “France stands with […]

With bare hands, residents removed septic tanks from communal chemical toilets, loaded them on shopping trolleys and emptied them at the exit of N7 at Dunoon, near Milnerton, CapeTown, on Sunday. The residents from Ekuphumuleni informal settlement have not had their toilets cleaned for three weeks after they stopped a newly appointed contractor, Sanitech, from […]

Questions have been raised about the suicide in custody on Sunday of one of two men arrested in connection with the murder of five women in Mthwalume in KwaZulu-Natal, after he told police there were more bodies to be found. The Democratic Alliance has called for an investigation. The two men, aged 35 and 40, […]

An increasing trend recently has been the sight of South Africa receiving aid and services from other countries, most of it free, but at least once paid for. A country that should be delivering help to the rest of the continent and further afield is now the one needing assistance. Germany – Technical experts  On […]

As the number of positive cases of COVID in the Western Cape continue to decline – faster than in the rest of the country – the local government is closing down its field hospital at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, which was built in June and was Africa’s biggest COVID field hospital. “Due to […]

A former fastfood delivery man appeared in Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court, Mpumalanga, on Wednesday after complaints were received from clients who had noticed extra charges on their bank accounts after paying him for their orders. The suspect was found with an illegal point of sale device and more than R120,000 in cash. Patrick Kananga Mukandila, described […]

Members of the South African cabinet and their deputies have taken more than one trip overseas every day for the past two years – that’s 949 trips, to be exact – in the 912 days since Cyril Ramaphosa became president in February 2018. All have been funded by the taxpayer. The worst offenders were Lindiwe […]

The African National Congress is allegedly planning to start a “sweetheart” union for the tourism sector sanctioned by Luthuli House and favourable to the ANC, to serve as the official voice of the tourism industry, an industry whistleblower has told the Democratic Alliance. The DA said it had been advised that the ANC planned to […]

The drill rig DeepSea Stavanger has arrived in Cape Town before it heads to Mossel Bay to begin drilling in the Outeniqua Basin as part of a $400 million oil and gas drilling campaign by the French company Total. It will be there for up to 300 days. The massive rig has been commissioned by […]

The Department of Public Enterprises is once again boasting its readiness to implement the business rescue plan for South African Airways, to create a “lean, agile” airline, but no mention is being made of where the more than R10 billion needed to effect the BRP will come from. The department headed by minister Pravin Gordhan […]

To support home and community food gardens, the Western Cape government’s “One Home, One Garden” initiative has already helped establish 1,371 food gardens – in the form of vegetable gardens or chicken coops – in two months, with more than 400 in just one week. “One of my key priorities for agriculture is farmer support […]

The North Gauteng High Court has referred a 5-year-old case between the City of Cape Town and the Minister of Energy and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa back to the Intergovernmental Dispute Resolution Framework, further delaying the city’s ability to buy electricity from independent power producers rather than Eskom. The judgement, said the […]

Cape Town architectural design firm SAOTA has worked on countless glistening projects around the world, but most recently has been in the news for designing the $35.5 million mansion Hillside in Los Angeles that has featured on the Netflix reality series “Selling Sunset.” Here’s a video of the house at 8408 Hillside Avenue: For the […]

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has written to the executives of a Chinese state-owned locomotive manufacturing entity asking for the return of at least US$284 million (more than R5 billion, at current exchange rates) in South African government funds looted by the entity on behalf of the Guptas. The letter was written by OUTA’s CEO […]

Two days late, and two years after he posted the accusation online, ex-president Jacob Zuma today followed a court ruling and apologised to former minister Derek Hanekom for a 2019 tweet in which he called him an enemy agent. “Apology accepted,” Hanekom tweeted. “As far as I am concerned, the matter is now closed, apart […]

While most South African municipalities outside of the Western Cape are billions of rand in debt from irregular spending, mismanagement and corruption, the lone Midvaal in Gauteng has had a clean audit for the sixth year in a row. This week, to celebrate Women’s Month, women from the municipality came together to dance to Beyoncé’s […]

Thanks to improved service at Cape Town harbour, the wine industry, badly affected by the months-long lockdown and prohibition of alcohol sales in South Africa, was able to export 38 million litres of wine in July, 12 million litres more than in June.  Rico Basson, the MD of Vinpro, which represents 2,500 wine producers, thanked […]

In another amazing act by the Bloemfontein SPCA, it was able to save a serval that had been hit by a car, apparently while escaping a pack of hunting dogs and was then, critically injured, transported 300 kilometres on the back of a truck. The SPCA said in its newsletter today that it had received […]

A big push is being made by South African chef Jan Hendrik at his Michelin-starred restaurant in the south of France (in Nice, on the Cote d’Azur) to serve as much South African wine as possible to help the local industry during its crisis as the ban on local alcohol sales continues. And he has […]