For the second day, a huge fire has spread across the Houwhoek Pass in South Africa, destroying thousands of hectares of bush and forest, and the smoke has spread as far as Cape Town, 70 kilometres away. The fire began on Saturday and quickly spread across the Overberg area. The smoke drifted over the Hottentot Hollands range […]

Three years ago this weekend, small-town Mpumulanga schoolgirl Pretty Yende made her debut at the world-famous Metropolitan Opera House in New York. More astonishing than her voice was that it had been only a decade since Yende had learned what the word “opera” meant. This weekend Yende posted a message on Instagram from Paris, where she is soon to […]

The six-storey banner saying #ZumaMustFall that went up on Friday at the top of Long Street in Cape Town – resulting in pictures of it being shared on social media over a million times in the first hour (according to the campaign’s facebook page) – has been torn down by African National Congress (ANC) supporters after the […]

Baleka Mbete, the speaker of Parliament, is to receive an award named after Martin Luther King – leader of the African-American civil rights movement – in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C., on Sunday. The Martin Luther King Legacy Award for International Service is bestowed annually by a Washington-based health organisation – the Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural & […]

JOHANNESBURG –  U.S. rapper Mos Def has been arrested at Cape Town International Airport, and his family have been given two weeks to leave the country, according to news reports. The Department of Home Affairs said on Friday that Mos Def, 42, was accused of contravening immigration laws. He has been living in the country […]

CAPE TOWN – Motorists driving up Long Street in the Cape Town city centre today have been distracted – and amused or annoyed – by a massive banner that has been draped down the side of a corner building declaring “Zuma Must Fall”. No one has taken responsibility for the huge, six-storey, black-and-white banner, but it […]

MIDRAND – At the kick-off for the highly anticipated 2016 municipal elections – which could see several major metropolitan areas change leadership – the Independent Electoral Commission of SA said on Thursday the first voter registration weekend will take place on March 5-6. The election date still has to be confirmed by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional […]

More than two-thirds of adult South Africans are confident that all population groups in the country should enjoy a happy future, according to a new survey released this week. The data was collected by the research company Ipsos among 3,617 randomly chosen adult South Africans who were interviewed face-to-face in their homes and home languages from mid-September […]

Passengers on flights to Asia are allegedly being targeted by thieves midair, and Hong Kong police say that as much as $4.5 million has been stolen from international passengers in less than a year, according to news reports. SAA is reportedly investigating claims by a passenger from Johannesburg to the Chinese city that he had R30,000 ($1 200 and £420) […]

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has strongly condemned President Jacob Zuma for signing into law amendments to the way pensions can be paid out, calling it “an outrageous and blatant act of provocation by the ANC-led government”. Zuma hit back at the unions on Thursday saying he had not acted unilaterally when signing […]

Many of us hanker after South African food when we are abroad – Mrs. Balls Chutney and biltong immediately come to mind. But there are loads of other foods too, some that make foreigners cringe, either because of the taste (Peppermint Crisp) or the name (pickled fish). Some are very hard to explain (waterblommetjie bredie, bobotie), while others foreigners get just as […]

The South African Parliament will discuss the possibility of regulating over-the-top forms of communication, which include services like WhatsApp and Skype, it was reported on Wednesday. OTT services allow users to send messages and make calls over data networks, often at lower costs than traditional telephone calls or SMS. They have been growing rapidly in the South Africa, […]

A British newspaper reported on Wednesday that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe may have suffered a heart attack, although commentators say the rumour is an annual occurrence and should not be taken seriously. The Daily Star in Britain, referring to “reports in Africa” as its sources – which could have been the Zimbabwean news site Zim Eye – said […]

The number of people who died on South African roads in December to January rose 14 percent, up to 1,755, compared to the same period the previous year, according to preliminary figures released by the Department of Transport. The Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters told reporters on Tuesday that between 1 December and 11 January, there […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius filed papers to appeal against his conviction for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a family spokesperson told Reuters on Monday. The athlete, nicknamed “Blade Runner” because of the prosthetic legs he uses to race, has spent the last three months under house arrest at his uncle’s home […]

A day after President Jacob Zuma said that South Africa and markets overreacted to his sacking of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, which caused economic havoc, the Democratic Alliance has been allowed to go ahead with a debate on a motion of no-confidence in Zuma. Leader of the DA Mmusi Maimane said on Monday that Speaker Baleka Mbete […]

For a town as small as Johannesburg, California – population 180 in 2010 – it has been getting a lot of news lately. Last month it was hit by a minor earthquake and now police have arrested a man for possessing a quantity of explosives. According to a TV news report, the bomb squad found […]

The Pretoria-born, U.S.-based business magnate and innovator Elon Musk is eyeing out the market for some of his products in South Africa, where he will open an office and possibly even a factory, according to a series of recent reports. Short on the heels of the local development comes news that Musk announced on the weekend that within two years some Tesla […]

Evita Bezuidenhout sums up the turbulent week that was, lots of conflict over racism, wrong pronunciation and the ANC’s 104th birthday bash in Rustenberg.

In sad and shocking news for the music world and millions who grew up loving David Bowie, the rocker who defied the odds to remain a superstar for decades has died at the age of 69. The news comes only days after he celebrated his birthday and shortly after he released his latest album, which […]

Right on the heels of a record heatwave in Gauteng, an area near Johannesburg was hit by a massive hailstorm on Saturday afternoon, leading to the evacuation of a shopping centre after its roof collapsed, according to the Weather Channel. The Key West Shopping center in Krugersdorp was hit by the storm at around 4pm. Pictures of severe damage were circulating soon […]

One of two new chimpanzees acquired by the Pretoria Zoo managed to escape on Saturday and was wandering around the streets of Pretoria before being caught and returned to his new home. The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa said in a statement that the chimp went on “a bit of a walkabout outside the […]

The ANC’s leader in the Western Cape, Marius Fransman, has been accused of sexually abusing a woman he had just hired as his personal assistant and then offered payment for her to keep quiet, according to news reports on Sunday. News of the allegations were reported at the start of the weekend, just as the African National […]

As Egyptian geese and other wild birds make their way into urban areas, numerous locals have kindly stepped in – and, in the case of one Johannesburg police offer, even stopped traffic – to help the families and young goslings to reach safety. In Johannesburg earlier this week, it was reported that the police aided an Egyptian goose crossing […]

In 1666 the Dutch East India Company began the construction of the Castle of Good Hope. Now, 350 years later, the star-shaped stone fort is becoming as much an image of colonial rule as an edifice promoting inclusion and reconciliation. On 2 January, the Kaapse Klopse parade for the Tweede Nuwe Jaar coincided with the birthday ceremony at the Castle, with […]