LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – National leaders may have been the ones to sign the Paris Agreement to combat climate change – but when it comes to putting the deal into effect, “it is cities that drive most of the change”, says Cape Town’s mayor Patricia de Lille. Since taking charge of South Africa’s second […]

Former domestic worker Beauty Qamata lost her legs to diabetes… Beauty Qamata, 72, lost her legs to diabetes three years ago. She spends her days immobile, alone in her shack near Mdantsane, with no running water, no electricity and no toilet. The former domestic worker sits on her bed in her shack in Bacawa informal settlement. […]

The Blitzboks powered their way to a 19-12 win over archrivals Fiji to clinch the USA Sevens title in Las Vegas on Monday. The Blitzboks have now won four tournaments out of five this World Rugby Seven Series, and extended their already considerable advantage at the summit of the standings to 24 points. Just as […]

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation recently announced that once again, no-one had earned its annual prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The prize is meant to recognise probity and commitment to democracy and, crucially, it is awarded to people who have relinquished power with grace rather than outstaying their welcome. Alas, such people are few and […]

In 1980 there were 127 000 commercial farmers serving a population of 25 million people. As a result South Africa used to feed nine neighbouring countries… writes MENZI SOLOMON SHANGE. In 2016 there are only 30 000 commercial farmers left serving a population of 55.9 million people. The ANC are well informed on this statistic […]

The South African Blitzboks’ run of success in Las Vegas continued on Saturday as they won their first two games of the Sevens Series being played there… writes MARK ETHERIDGE. (Please see update at bottom of story.) The Blitzboks opened with a 26-7 defeat of Canada, in a game where they only really hit their […]

Humans like to think that they rule the planet and are hard wired to do so. But our stewardship has been anything but successful. The last major extinction event, 66 million years ago, was caused by a meteorite. But the next mass extinction event, which is under way right now, is our fault. Geologists have […]

South Africa is fast approaching a crossroads at which it will have to choose between structural reform and a lurch to populist nationalism. So, too, is its governing African National Congress (ANC), which later this year must elect a successor to its president, Jacob Zuma. With a range of conflicting ideas on how to address […]

ST LUCIA, KWAZULU-NATAL – On Tuesday I rescued a leatherback turtle hatchling! First one I’ve ever seen – and in broad daylight at St Lucia’s Estuary beach in South Africa… writes DEBBIE MARSHALL COOPER. We received a call Tuesday morning that the turtles were seen on the beach, so I shot off – but was already too […]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – SpaceX plans to launch two paying passengers on a tourist trip around the moon next year using a spaceship under development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket yet to be flown, the launch company announced on Monday. The launch of the first privately funded tourist flight beyond the orbit […]

The appointment of former South African president Thabo Mbeki as Chancellor of one of the country’s largest tertiary institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA), comes at a unique moment in the country… writes Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, University of South Africa. Universities are struggling to cope with student movements’ revolutionary demands for relevant, decolonised and free […]

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Orlando Bloom, star of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings” movies, said on Friday it was hard to grasp the scale of the suffering in Africa’s Lake Chad region after visiting some of the children uprooted by years of conflict. An insurgency by the Boko Haram […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa will amend its laws to allow expropriation of land without compensation for owners as it tries to speed up the redistribution of land to its black majority, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday. Expropriation without compensation would mark a radical policy departure for Zuma’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), shifting […]

North West government to start donkey production programme… Writes Kimon de Greef A Johannesburg businessman was arrested this week after falsely declaring a shipment of 300 donkey hides at OR Tambo airport. Investigators suspect that the man, a Chinese national, is the leader of a local donkey smuggling ring. Gelatin from donkey hides is used to […]

PRETORIA (Reuters) – South African police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse rival marches by hundreds of protesters in Pretoria on Friday, after mobs looted stores this week believed to belong to immigrants. (See photos at bottom of story.) Anti-immigrant violence has flared sporadically in South Africa against a background of […]

PRETORIA (Reuters) – South African police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse rival marches by hundreds of citizens and non-nationals in the capital on Friday, following looting this week of stores believed to belong to immigrants. Anti-immigrant violence has flared sporadically in South Africa against a background of near-record unemployment, with […]

Many see the decision by South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) to send the disgraced former CEO of the power utility Eskom to parliament as the precursor to another attack on the National Treasury and to remove finance minister Pravin Gordhan. The decision to give Brian Molefe a seat in the country’s parliament has […]

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A young Tanzanian entrepreneur is turning the country’s mounting plastic waste into “lumber” to help meet demand for housing in its growing cities, in an effort to reduce depletion of forests. Christian Mwijage decided he could tackle those problems in one go – by turning discarded plastic bottles into building […]

A tropical storm – named Dineo – has swept in from the Indian Ocean, causing extensive flooding as it hit landfall in Mozambique. More damage is threatened as it swings south and west. Tropical storms are classified once clouds have reached an organised cyclonic formation and wind speeds have exceeded 60km/h. The storm can be […]

It’s not every day you get to meet one of the world’s biggest environmental idols, so you can say that this was a pretty big occasion for me…writes Stroop rhino documentary’s Bonné de Bod. I’ve done plenty of interviews in my career, but for this one I could feel the nerves settling in. I think I was […]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jazz and R & B singer Al Jarreau, a seven-time Grammy winner whose hits included “We’re in This Love Together” and “Moonlighting,” died on Sunday in Los Angeles at age 76, just days after announcing he was retiring from touring because of poor health. (Scroll down for South African Arts Minister’s comments.) […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Whale rescuers in New Zealand linked arms in neck-deep water on Saturday to try and prevent about 200 pilot whales from stranding themselves again in a remote bay, where 300 of the animals died this week. The incident, in the shallow muddy waters of Golden Bay, at the northwest tip of South […]

South African athlete and Rio Olympics 800-metre gold medallist Caster Semeyna is in line to be awarded an additional Olympic gold medal. This could transpire following media reports that Russian runner Maria Savinova has been stripped of her 2012 Olympic gold medal for doping. Associated Press reports that Savinova, who won the 800-m title at the […]

A different battle was fought on the streets of SONA (State of the Nation Address) in Cape Town, South Africa yesterday – one that saw ANC school children aggravate EFF supporters, resulting in police using unnecessary force to disperse children no older than 15… writes JUSTIN SULLIVAN. An elderly man raising his hand to a younger […]

Last year we promised that we will find rhinos in need of urgent help and give you the opportunity to help rescue them 1 by 1, writes LOUISE JOUBERT, founder of SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. Our Saving Big Boy appeal in 2016 helped to save a beautiful white rhino bull from falling victim to a […]