Taxi drivers, truck drivers and motorists complain that the R61 connecting Flagstaff and Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape of South Africa is potholed and getting worse. With potholes on both lanes, motorists say it is like manoeuvring through a minefield Two unemployed young men saw an opportunity in this. They started filling the potholes and […]

Every day, Zwelakhe Mnomiya from Gqamu in KwaZulu-Natal walks about 20km to and from school. The grade 11 learner is among dozens of children who make the journey on foot to Gcotoi High School in rural Kranskop. According to Gcotoi High, more than 100 learners walk between 11 and 20 km to and from school […]

The stranding of the MV Wakashio is one of the biggest environmental disasters in the history of the western Indian Ocean. While the full scale of the disaster is not yet known, the 1,000 tons of oil and diesel that leaked close to one of the greatest marine treasures of Mauritius threatens to destroy this […]

Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, how well has South Africa done at limiting infections, and how big a deal is the pandemic anyway? To answer that, we need to think about how the data actually works and doesn’t work. We are not 5th worst Dashboards like Bing and Worldometer report that South Africa has the fifth-highest number […]

The predation of livestock by carnivores, and the retaliatory killing of carnivores as a result, is a major global conservation challenge. Such human-wildlife conflicts are a key driver of large carnivore declines and the costs of coexistence are often disproportionately borne by rural communities in the global south. While current approaches tend to focus on […]

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s despatch of envoys to Zimbabwe in a bid to defuse the latest crisis, in which the government has engaged in a vicious crackdown on opponents, journalists and the freedoms of speech, association and protest, has been widely welcomed. Such has been the brutality of the latest assault on human rights […]

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has dismissed allegations that her family is involved in COVID-19 tender procurement. False news has been making the rounds on various social media platforms, alleging the involvement of the Minister’s husband, Dr Mathole Motshekga, in the production of sanitisers for schools. “The allegations are absolutely not true and totally malicious. […]

Eskom warned that its power system is “severely constrained” on Wednesday afternoon as the return to service of five generation units is delayed, while two units have tripped. “We urge the people of South Africa to reduce electricity consumption in order to help us power the country through the evening peak,” Eskom said. According to […]

The Department of Basic Education has announced that the 2020 Grade 12s will concurrently write mid-year and final examinations between 5 November and 15 December. The reconfiguration of the examination calendar comes after the school year was severely disrupted by the lengthy closure of schools since March due to the COVID-19 enforced lockdown. “Following the […]

241 patients came through its doors. But now the temporary Covid-19 field hospital in Khayelitsha will close. It is yet another sign that the Western Cape, at least for now, is beyond the worst of the pandemic, although it is far from over. In March, Khayelitsha was the first township in South Africa to have […]

Russia’s announcement that a fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccine is registered there, with plans for quick distribution in the general population this fall, is being condemned by scientists worldwide. Findings from scientific studies of this vaccine, named “Sputnik V,” are not available. Large safety and efficacy trials are only now getting underway. But despite only two months […]

Residents of KTC in Cape Town have rolled up their sleeves to clear uncollected rubbish that had been piling up near their homes. On Friday, community leader Lumkile Msila joined about 50 other residents who were fed-up with waiting for the City of Cape Town to respond to their complaints. Msila said community members were […]

On the evening of Saturday July 25, the MV (Merchant Vessel) Wakashio grounded on coral reefs in the south-east of the Indian Ocean tropical island of Mauritius. The ship, a Japanese-owned but Panama-registered bulk carrier designed to transport unpackaged goods such as coal or grain, was empty of cargo but had an estimated 200 tons […]

Thirteen people are to appear in the Blue Downs Magistrate court on Tuesday for public violence following protesting and looting in Bloekombos, Cape Town at the weekend. One woman was shot dead during looting at a trucking business near Old Paarl Road on Saturday. About 500 protesters were protesting and looting in the area over […]

Dear Fellow South African… writes President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his latest Letter from the Desk of the President. Yesterday, the country celebrated Women’s Day. This occasion marks the anniversary of the day in 1956 when 20,000 women marched to the Union Buildings – a great sea of womankind speaking many languages, from different places and […]

Jellyfish can be found in almost every ocean in the world. These beautiful, graceful creatures are a sight to behold; their swift, pulsating motions gently propel them through the water. But the scene can quickly turn ominous as the animal transforms into a ferocious, formidable predator. These creatures have no special organs for respiration or […]

On Thursday, more than 100 residents of Hamburg, blocked the main entry road to the town with burning tyres and tree trunks, demanding water. Seven of the eight areas in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, have been without tap water since February. The municipality says delivering water has been a challenge, and its relief schemes are only […]

COVID-19 has wrought havoc on poor households in countries across the world. In South Africa, more and more people are facing hunger resulting from mass job losses and small, poorly implemented supplementary cash grants. On top of this the pandemic has put in stark relief the country’s poorly understood food system, in which powerful firms […]

South African cyclist Daryl Impey will join four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome at Israel Start-Up Nation next season after signing a two-year deal with the team. The 35-year-old Impey, the first African cyclist to wear the Tour’s yellow jersey in 2013, has ridden for Mitchelton-Scott since 2012. ‘It’s not often you get to […]

Snakes are a diverse lineage of reptiles that are found on every continent except Antarctica. Despite differences in appearance, habitat preference, defence tactics and underlying biology, one thing is common to all 3,800 species of snakes — every last one is a predator. As predators, snakes are likely to fulfil important roles in ecosystems. Knowing […]

Dear Mr President The Covid-19 pandemic caught the entire globe by surprise, and despite this, South Africans willingly joined the fightback in March. The pandemic has had severe effects on the populations of the world – economic collapse, hunger, and poverty have been exacerbated in countries already struggling with internal issues such as inequality, high […]

Herbicides which have been banned in other parts of the world have been found in seawater in Camps Bay, and accumulating in seaweed and marine organisms such as mussels, limpets, and sea urchins. Scientists have found herbicides in seawater and in mussels and seaweed in Camps Bay. They say the herbicides probably come from the […]

Across the world, the higher education sector is changing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Conversation Africa’s Nontobeko Mtshali asked vice-chancellors from three South African universities to share their insights about what these changes could mean for the country’s higher education landscape. What long-lasting changes to South Africa’s higher education sector has the pandemic brought? […]

People from various organisations protested in Johannesburg on Saturday. Photo: Zoë Postman Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Central Johannesburg to the Gauteng Legislature on Saturday morning. The protest highlighted government’s failures in response to Covid-19. The protest was divided into groups to ensure physical distancing and marshalls were sanitising people’s hands as […]

Perhaps it has taken a small cruel virus to open my eyes… writes Steve Hall. This invisible thing has brought a new clarity to the vision I once had but maybe didn’t notice enough. Covid-19 arrived unwanted and indiscriminate, and no amount of border protection or customs officials could stem the tragedy of its travels. […]