On Monday (7 June), members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria (as well as at consulates in Johannesburg and Cape Town), in condemnation of the killing of George Floyd… whose death in the US has kindled global protest and debate about justice, prejudice and police brutality. Demonstrators branded […]

Social media users are currently posting blank black images in solidarity with those protesting the death of George Floyd in the U.S. writes Tom Brown. But many of those well-wishers supporting the Blackout Tuesday movement are unintentionally obscuring vital information streams used by protesters… by including the #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM hashtag. The #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM […]

There were queues all over South Africa today, Monday 1 June, as residents lined up to purchase bottles of wine, beer and spirits after the nine-week ban on alcohol sales (due to Lockdown regulations). Tom Brown captured on film one of the longest queues in the country… at the liquor store at Macro in Cenurion. […]

In gratitude to the many South African soldiers who are women – and who will be unable to celebrate Mother’s Day with their children today – a women’s veteran’s organisation handed out female hygiene parcels to over 300 female soldiers on Friday. Former Umkhonto weSizwe and SA National Defence Force (SANDF) member, Granny Seape, said […]

“People emerge from their homes as the big military machines roll by. It’s more of a parade than a patrol. It’s something to look at and they’re bored. Loudspeakers blare words of warning: ‘Wash your hands, stay one meter apart…,’ as kids climb over each other to get a better view.’ Tom Brown goes on […]

As I accompanied members of a community-sponsored, volunteer-based feeding scheme around Pretoria recently, I saw several communities who might have been of different races. But they had one thing in common – they are desperately in need of food as they reel under the economic effects of lockdown in South Africa. We arrive at the […]

A non-profit feeding scheme today said it would no longer hand out food parcels in a Pretoria township after chaos erupted and looters stole thousands of food parcels and damaged vehicles. The incident happened at Itireleng township in the west of Pretoria, at a feeding scheme run by a number of community groups from Laudium. […]

Gauteng MEC for Education and Youth Development, Panyaza Lesufi today visited the Lyttelton Homeless Shelter in Tshwane, following reports of escapees fleeing with mattresses… writes photojournalist Tom Brown. Images which were widely circulated on social media yesterday, including in a tweet by Lesufi, showed two men making off with multiple mattresses from the facility. City […]

Drive-through tests for the Coronavirus have started at numerous Dis-Chem locations around the country. At Dis-Chem’s Centurion outlet, where the idea was first prototyped, store manager Johan Pienaar reported that the number tested today would likely eclipse the 16 tested yesterday. He said that most people testing were doing so merely as a precautionary measure, […]

The Duduza Clinic near Nigel in Ekurhuleni, South Africa, has been shut indefinitely today – Thursday 2 April – following a resident nurse testing positive for Covid-19.  The infected nurse was reportedly among the 859 churchgoers whom attended a prayer meeting – the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast – at the Divine Restoration Ministries in Bloemfontein, earlier […]

South African photojournalist Tom Brown, who is usually based between India and South Africa, ventured out into Tshwane on Wednesday to bring SAPeople readers a snapshot of the city under lockdown. (Tom is an accredited photographer with permission to carry out this assignment during lockdown.) Pick n’ Pay are putting up perspex screens to safeguard […]