BANGUI (Reuters) – Central African Republic has adopted bitcoin as an official currency, the CAR presidency said on Wednesday, becoming the first country in Africa and only the second in the world to do so (after El Salvador in Central America). Despite rich reserves of gold and diamonds, Central African Republic is one of the […]

CAPE TOWN — Ticketmaster, the global leader in live event ticketing, has announced it is bringing its advanced digital ticketing technology to South Africa, with headquarters in Cape Town. Sporting teams, artists, promoters, festivals and venues will be able to take full advantage of Ticketmaster’s suite of industry-leading products and digital ticketing tools designed to […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent a ‘stern’ warning to government departments and businesses providing goods and services, that South Africa will not stand for acts of self-enrichment at the expense of those who need relief – following a deluge of catastrophic floods in some parts of the country. The president’s comments, at a joint sitting […]

South African expat Elon Musk has acquired Twitter Inc in a $44-billion deal today, 11 days after first offering to buy the social media platform. The billionaire entrepreneur (Tesla, SpaceX) and world’s richest man said “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means”. Twitter accepted the […]

The South African Government says the project is discontinued… By Bernard Chiguvare. The Department of Tourism spent R9.3-million on the Tshakhuma Conference Development Heritage and Tourism Project near Thohoyandou in Limpopo. The project ground to a halt in 2014 because the service provider mismanaged the funds according to the department. Nothing remains to be seen […]

Eskom says after making some ground in recovering generation capacity, it may lift all stages of load shedding on Friday evening. The power utility has been battling generation unit failures throughout the past week, which have tipped the country into the more stringent stage four load shedding – dropping down to stage three on Wednesday […]

The Western Cape has welcomed the news that Delta Air Lines’ application to fly a triangular route between Atlanta, Johannesburg and Cape Town has finally been approved by the SA national government. The approval, which had previously been denied, means that tourists and South Africans living in the US will soon be able to enjoy […]

As Eskom today escalated load shedding in South Africa from Stage 2 to Stage 4 – due to a trip at the Majuba and Tutuka power stations – there are calls for Eskom to be declared a State of Disaster. (Last night a national state of disaster was announced to handle the catastrophic floods in […]

Eskom has ‘regretfully’ implemented Stage 2 load shedding – ie. power cuts – in South Africa from 16:00 this afternoon (Easter Sunday) until 05:00 on Wednesday, 20 April, as a result of additional generation unit losses and delayed return to service of generators. The power utility cautioned that higher stages of loadshedding may be required. […]

It reads like a Hollywood blockbuster – pets go missing in South Africa, and a well-intentioned stranger ostensibly picks them up. But the plot unravels as he turns nasty and demands a ransom for their safe return. You can watch Carte Blanche on Sunday 17 April in South Africa on DStv Now or stream it […]

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk – of Tesla and SpaceX fame – has offered to buy Twitter for about $41- to $43-billion in cash. The South African expat says he believes the social media company, which he has often criticised (with comments like “Is Twitter dead?”), needs to go private to see effective changes. UPDATE 25 […]

Just months after two separate High Courts granted interim urgent interdicts against two different seismic surveys off the East and West Coasts of South Africa – both predominantly as a result of insufficient consultation with affected communities – Tosaco Energy has received authorisation from the Department of Mineral Resources and Environment (DMRE) to proceed with […]

A good wine is a complex marriage of body, bouquet, and flavour, often only fully appreciated by those with an equally complex palate. So how did two non-drinking former refugees become award-winning connoisseurs and admired winemakers in their own right? Don’t miss this feel good story on Carte Blanche this Sunday in SA on DStv […]

South Africa’s hospitality association has welcomed last night’s lifting of the State of Disaster – after 750 days – BUT has re-issued its call for the urgent removal of the PCR test requirement for unvaccinated children between the age of five and 12-years-old… which FEDHASA says is damaging tourism. Fedhasa said it’s “delighted” by the […]

The South African government has welcomed Moody’s decision to affirm South Africa’s long term foreign and local currency debt ratings at ‘Ba2’ and revise the outlook to stable from negative. The National Treasury on Friday said according to Moody’s, the key driver behind the decision to change the outlook to stable is the improved fiscal […]

Operating hours at Home Affairs offices will extend to 18:30 this evening, after the department’s systems went offline nationwide on Friday. “The Department of Home Affairs wishes to inform members of the public that services at the department have been restored. The department and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) have been able to fix […]

South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza says the SA government has reached an agreement with Maputo that will see South Africa getting a supply of gas from Mozambique. “Discussions between our Minister here of Mineral Resources [and Energy] and Mozambique are quite advanced in terms of gas that we should transport from Mozambique to the […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa “stared into the heart of darkness” during the height of the July 2021 unrest. The President was giving his opening statement at the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) National Investigative Hearing into the July 2021 unrest that unfolded in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces (after protests, sparked by the […]

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has tabled a proposal that will see the fuel levy being reduced by R1.50 cents per litre. Making a statement to a sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday, Godongwana said the temporary fuel levy cut will come into effect on Wednesday next week, and will remain in effect until the […]

Shopkeepers pulled down their metal shutters and foreign staff stayed out of sight as hundreds marched through Hillbrow in Johannesburg, demanding that migrants leave and that their jobs go to South Africans. The march through dilapidated Hillbrow, where many African migrants live, was organised by Operation Dudula, a vigilante group whose activities have raised fears […]

Unemployment in South Africa grew by 0.4 of a percentage point to reach 35.3% in the final quarter (Q4) of 2021, Statistics South Africa has revealed. This is the highest since the start of the QLFS (Quarterly Labour Force Survey) in 2008. Releasing the QLFS statistics on Tuesday, Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said Q4 of 2021 […]

Wednesday saw the first public meeting of the Devil’s Peak Vredehoek Outreach (DPV Outreach), a voluntary, community association formed to help homeless people in the area. A Cape Town suburb has tried a new approach to helping its homeless people. The Devil’s Peak Vredehoek Outreach uses peer educators to improve the lives of homeless residents. […]

Nando’s has done it again – creating an advert that gets South Africans laughing… and talking. The fast food peri-peri chicken outlet’s latest advert is centred around gender identity, new pronouns and the importance of family, diversity and inclusivity. Nando’s said in a statement today: “Navigating family dynamics is not for the faint-hearted. You know […]

World renowned healthcare technology scientist, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, says South Africa can be the continent’s hub for innovation in health technology. Addressing the South African Investment Conference held in Johannesburg, the famous South African expat and businessman, who is based in the USA, said: « It is a very interesting time in humanity. For the first […]

Taxi drivers and owners brought Cape Town’s city centre to a standstill on Thursday as a large convoy of minibus taxis from Khayelitsha, along the N2, to the Western Cape Legislature. Hundreds of taxi drivers and owners marched and drove in convoy along the N2, to the Western Cape Legislature on Thursday. They were mainly […]