As the squandering of money by most municipalities went up yet again – from R25.2 billion to R32 billion – Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu in his latest report of the country’s municipalities singled out the Western Cape and Gauteng for having developed characteristics of good governance. Makwetu said many municipalities were spending money “in ways that […]

A nearly complete R281 million forensic pathology facility at Groote Schuur Hospital could help reduce South Africa’s high number of unsolved crimes and cold cases. The Observatory Forensic Pathology Institute will be more than just a mortuary, the University of Cape Town’s Department of Medicine says on its website, but will allow pathologists to be […]

With moviehouses across the country ready to open soon, the well-known Labia Theatre in Cape Town has announced that it will also start streaming a curated selection of movies that one can watch at home, in addition to those that will be available on its four screens. The Labia Home Screen offers six video-on-demand movies […]

As many as two dozen ships at a time could be seen lying anchored in Table Bay the last few weeks, while berths in the harbour were almost empty. The Western Cape government said it has requested a meeting with Minister Pravin Gordhan to deal with the challenges facing Cape Town harbour that are losing […]

The South African cabinet has said it supports the establishment of a new airline out of South African Airways and has backed the concerted efforts to mobilise funding from various sources that could see the proposed carrier take off. The mobilising of funding would include potential equity partners, government said in a post-Cabinet meeting statement. […]

Zeblon Vilakazi, a professor who is “globally recognised for his scientific work,” has been selected to replace Professor Adam Habib as the next vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Witwatersrand. He will take over his role on 1 January. Professor Vilakazi’s appointment was announced today by the Council of the University of the Witwatersrand […]

The government has promised that the calamitous journey of its Medupi power plant, said to be the fourth-biggest in the world and first started in 2007, will be over this year and its sister plant Kusile completed in 2023. This was stated when Deputy President David Mabuza answered a question in Parliament today. He said […]

The government will need to borrow $7 billion from international finance institutions as one of the measures to cover the budget hole brought about by South Africa’s response to COVID-19, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said today during his supplementary budget. “Debt is our weakness. We have accumulated far too much debt. This downturn will add […]

South Africa’s economy is projected to contract by 7.2 percent in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. “This is the largest contraction in nearly 90 years,” he said tabling the Supplementary Budget Review. Inflation will likely register 3 percent in 2020. “Commodity price increases and a weaker […]

National Treasury has set aside R21.5 billion for COVID‐19‐related healthcare spending for health and frontline services, it was announced by the Finance Minister Tito Mboweni when he delivered the Supplementary Budget on Wednesday. The budget was necessitated by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that government would spend R500 billion to support the economy’s resuscitation following the […]

The leaking of official documents at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa showed there was a “fight-back campaign” by highly placed officials unhappy about the cleaning up of corruption and maladministration at the state-owned enterprise, says administrator Bongisizwe Mpondo. Mpondo has directed the acting head of PRASA Security, Brigadier General Tebogo Rakau, to investigate […]

KASANE, Botswana – New research led by Elephants Without Borders reveals that poaching of African elephants for their ivory has not decreased since 2011 in Western, Southern, and Central Africa. As a result, continued efforts to combat poaching will be necessary to save elephant populations. The new study was published June 23rd in Scientific Reports […]

The Department of Public Enterprises has said it will oppose an application by SA Airlink to place South African Airways under provisional liquidation and finds the legal action “disturbing.” It was reported earlier today in Business Day that the private airline wanted to interdict a creditors meeting set for Thursday, and instead have the company […]

The new South African horror movie, “8,” now available on Netflix is getting great word of mouth and is trending among the top shows on the streaming channel. The supernatural thriller is grounded in South African folklore and mythology. It’s a dark story of atonement, rooted in traditional beliefs about ancestors and the spirit world. […]

Two suspects have been arrested in the killing of a young couple who were stranded on a Benoni road after running out of fuel in May 2019. The murdered couple were Johanco Fleischman, 19, and Jessica (Jess) Kuhn, 21. Kuhn was found shot in the bakkie and Fleischman, who had several gunshot wounds, was found […]

PRETORIA – Seven years after fleeing the country while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend in Johannesburg, a South African has been caught in Rio de Janeiro, thanks to the combined work of the South African Police Service, Interpol, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Brazilian Federal Police. The suspect, 39-year-old Gerhard Jansen […]

“Think of it as the Amazon, the Alibaba or even the eBay of Coronavirus resources on the African continent, made in Africa by Africans, the fundamental difference being that on this platform, the buyer is not an individual but governments,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said. As chairman of the African Union, he said yesterday the new […]

More than 2 million litres of fuel have been stolen since April from Transnet’s pipelines that crisscross the country, the utility said in a statement this week. Transnet urged all stakeholders in the industry to fight against fuel theft, and to stop buying fule from unregistered traders. “The tampering and damage to the pipeline because […]

Transnet, the government utility controlling South Africa’s ports, freight trains and pipelines, has instituted a process of lifestyle audits for its employees, requiring them to declare their assets and credit history, as well as those of their immediate family. Transnet said in a statement today this was “part of efforts to ensure high standards of […]

As temperatures continue to plummet in Gauteng, Eskom said it would implement load reduction in certain areas, including parts of Soweto, in order to avoid network overloading from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. today. Two days ago Eskom released a statement saying that repeated power failures were due to extreme network overloading and illegal connections. […]

Gauteng police have arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with the murder of Soweto mother-to-be, Tshegofatso Pule. The 28-year-old had been missing for four days when her body, covered in stab wounds, was found on Monday last week, hanging from a tree in a veld in Roodepoort. Pule was laid to rest last week in […]

In a sensational development, though long anticipated, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks have arrested at least eight top people allegedly involved in the plundering of almost R2 billion from the defunct VBS Mutual Bank. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation of the SA Police, also known as the Hawks, made the arrests early […]

South African youth from various formations have called on the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy, to ensure that economic recovery from Covid-19 is just, green, inclusive and youth and gender-responsive. Creecy today hosted a virtual Youth Environment and Sustainability Dialogue, where young South Africans presented a wide range of ideas and suggestions […]

The Western Cape government’s Hospital of Hope, created at the Cape Town International Conference Centre, is the largest COVID-dedicated hospital in Africa. The wards with 862 beds was created in 26 days, with staff working 24 hours a day. The hospital opened on 5 June. WATCH the time-lapse video of how it all came together. […]

While the Eastern Cape is going through a health crisis, unable to deal with the COVID pandemic, the ANC’s “delusional” health MEC has been showing off 100 scooters that won’t be able to handle rural roads, according to the Demoractic Alliance. Instead of focusing on the crisis at hand, said Jane Cowley, DA Eastern Cape […]