An economic advisory council of 18 specialists from numerous fields and from around the world has been appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to help facilitate the development and implementation of economic policies that are intended to spur growth. They will start work on 1 October. The Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which Ramaphosa referred to in […]

The mixed reaction to the government’s plan to introduce an option for students to leave school in Grade 9 – with some interpreting it as government’s failure in education – has led the department of basic education to clarify the intention of the so-called General Education Certificate. “The Department of Basic Education has noted with […]

Three people have been shortlisted for the job of CEO at the R450-billion-indebted Eskom, according to Bloomberg. The three are a former Eskom CEO from 2007 to 2009, Jacob Maroga; Andy Calitz, who once worked at Eskom and Royal Dutch Shell and was a former CEO of LNG Canada; as well as a third person […]

Edwin Cameron, who recently retired from the Constitutional Court of South Africa, has been named the new chancellor of Stellenbosch University. “I am honoured and humbled to have this chance to serve SU and its communities, and look forward to my new tasks,” Justice Cameron said on Wednesday. Cameron, an alumnus and recipient of an […]

In what amounted to a relaunch of the Peugeot brand in South Africa, the company introduced the market to two new models, a hatchback and an SUV, with the promise of more launches. At an event last week, reported almost exclusively in the car media, managing director of Peugeot Citroen South Africa, Xavier Gobille, was […]

The South African Treasury has raised $5 billion from the sale of two new bonds in international markets, with strong demand beforehand allowing it to pre-fund $1 billion more than originally planned, it said on Tuesday. “The South African government sees the success of the transaction, believed to be the largest ever out of Sub-Saharan […]

Robert O’Brien, the new security adviser to President Donald Trump – his fourth since taking office – studied at the University of the Orange Free State in the years that sanctions were being heavily imposed against South Africa and speaks Afrikaans fluently, according to news reports. O’Brien was appointed six days ago to take over […]

1. The best braais ever. 2. Petrol jockeys. (“Go well, go Shell!”) 3. South Africa’s a real and rich melting pot. 4. The African penguin. 5. Woolies salt- and pepper-grinders in restaurants. 6. The Karoo. 7. Love him or hate him, Cyril. We express our deep pain, support, solidarity and love to the families, friends […]

About 200 South Africans from numerous states across America gathered in the very heart of New York, Times Square, to hold a silent protest against gender-based violence in their home country. The protest on Saturday was organised by South African cultural exchange visitor Iman Jeneker, who said that she was so moved by what was […]

PRETORIA – South African Police have arrested a fourth suspect, and possibly the last one, wanted in connection with the kidnapping of 6-year-old Amy-Lee de Jager in Vanderbijlpark earlier this month. Members from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit tasked with the investigation arrested a 24-year-old man today at Muvhango, an […]

At a time when South Africa is looking for tourism to boost the economy, the news is not good. Five percent fewer foreigners visited the country in July 2019 compared to the same period a year ago, according to government figures released today. Between January and July, the total number of foreigners visiting the country […]

Barely a few days after a video of a public brawl in South Africa went viral, there’s a bare-bones music video out lampooning the original video and its famous line, “Hugo, bel die polisie!” The video is done by Ashwin Ash Le Breton, a dance teacher in Port Elizabeth known for his work with the […]

GENEVA – At least 1,500 foreigners in South Africa were forced to flee their homes during the recent xenophobic attacks in Gauteng and some 800 have chosen to return to their home countries, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which said it was deeply concerned about recurring violence against foreigners. The agency’s […]

After visiting 9 other countries in a four-week trip through East and Southern Africa, Bruce Marais was blown away by our next-door neighbour, Mozambique. So much so that we will be running more than one series of his photographs of the magical place. “The Portuguese who settled here in the 1500s brought along with them […]

What started 14 years ago as an annual weekly event to get South Africans to visit the country’s 19 main national parks for free for a day has just finished its latest season, with well over 113,000 – double the figure for 2018 – taking advantage of the offer. SA National Parks Week, which ran […]

Whether or not a deal is made on Brexit by the end of October, trade between South Africa and the United Kingdom will carry on as before and be governed by a new agreement, with preferential access still granted to 114 local products worth R7 billion, according to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim […]

Building started on Monday on a new R300-million Afrikaans training college outside Pretoria that will open in early 2021, but it has drawn the ire of the Gauteng MEC for Eduction Panyaza Lesufi. The trade union Solidariteit said in a recent video posted online that plans for a college, Sol-Tech, had been started 12 years […]

If several tweets from producer Legend Manqele are to be believed, there will soon be a reality TV series about Jacob Zuma and Nkandla. “It’s an amazing life we live. Just left the presidential (sic) homestead in Nkandla,” he wrote. As well as two other tweets: “Leaving president (sic) Jacob Zuma’s house after shooting the […]

The Democratic Alliance has filed a complaint in the Equality Court in Bloemfontein against EFF leader Julius Malema for posting a series of Robert Mugabe quotes on Twitter to celebrate the life of the former Zimbabwe president, including one that said, “The only white man you can trust is a dead white man.” “The DA […]

In the wake of a pledge by the South African police minister to crack down on crime, in Gauteng especially, intensified police action saw the arrest of 900 people across the province over the weekend and the recovery of 15 illegal firearms. In Cape Town, too, Operation Lockdown, the joint action between police and the […]

The Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Bavelile Hlongwa, who had recently been appointed, was killed with four others in a car accident on Friday night on the N1 near Polokwane, according to a statement from The Presidency. Hlongwa, who was 38, had been appointed on 30 May. In his statement today, President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed […]

Gautrain, the speed train running between Johannesburg, O.R. Tambo and Pretoria, has been banned from the advertising authority of South Africa from using a series of ads that, in an effort to attract more commuters, contend that travelling with its trains could save you up to 11 days a year. “What could you do with […]

Instead of attending the 74th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York later this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa will stay in South Africa to focus on the burning issues that have beset the country in the past weeks, including gender-based violence, the restoration of law and order and the worsening economy, according to […]

The number of murders, rapes and armed robberies in South Africa went up in the past year, according to the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele. “Women issues, murder and the fear factor – those crimes that make South Africans live in fear – like house robbery, house burglary. Those are the things we need to […]

There was a time when former president Jacob Zuma couldn’t make a speech without people cringing (about the stupid things he might say) or anticipating how he might fluff a complicated number. He set the bar low for others in the African National Congress, and many of them took up the call to utter the […]