President Cyril Ramaphosa has today, Tuesday, 2 November 2021, joined other leaders in announcing a historic partnership with the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Union (EU), to phase out coal and support a just transition to a low carbon economy and a climate resilient […]

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has announced a massive fuel hike from Wednesday this week. According to the department, petrol (both 93 and 95) will go up by R1.21 per litre, while the price of diesel (0.05% and 0.005% sulphur) will increase by R1.48 per little. In addition, a litre of illuminating paraffin […]

South Africa’s power utility Eskom has warned that it may have to implement load shedding (power cuts) at short notice after experiencing breakdowns at its power stations. Urging the public to use electricity sparingly, Eskom in a statement said the power system was “severely constrained”. The country last week experienced week-long rolling blackouts after Eskom […]

From bow ties to braaibroodjies, Wine Town Stellenbosch is an all-new de-centralised wine festival that brings you the best of the ‘City of Oaks’ (Stellenbosch) over five days, from Wednesday 3 November to Sunday 7 November. In the blend of this local wine and food showcase are a series of events to take place at venues […]

The number of political parties in South Africa has increased significantly from the 19 that participated in the first democratic election in 1994. Both 2011 and 2016 saw the number of political parties grow. But this year the number has increased exponentially. Over 500 are currently registered with the Independent Electoral Commission. Over 300 will […]

Facebook, which owns several companies including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, has changed its company name to Meta… although its popular Facebook social media app will retain the name Facebook. Facebook (or Meta) said: “Meta is helping to build the metaverse, a place where we’ll play and connect in 3D. Welcome to the next chapter of […]

The City of Cape Town has thanked its residents for confirming that Cape Town is the “most trusted metro in South Africa”, as reported in the 2021 Consulta Citizen Satisfaction Index (SA-csi). According to a City of Cape Town statement, Cape Town is the only metro to significantly lead in the citizen satisfaction index with […]

Eskom has announced that “regretfully Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 12:00 on Wednesday until 05:00 on Friday”, but that it’s no cause for alarm (although it’s certainly alarming for businesses and matric learners who need to study online). Stage 2 loadshedding will continue from Friday at 05:00 until 05:00 on Saturday. South Africa’s […]

After many long months, South Africa is officially off the UK’s red list as of 11 October 2021. Fully-vaccinated South Africans are now cleared to enter the country for both business and leisure purposes without having to worry about quarantine. The news led to a frenzy of bookings from South African travellers keen to travel […]

Flick through a news feed on your phone and you are likely to scroll across an article discussing the heated rivalries of the new space race. Forget the geopolitical struggles of a cold war. This time, it’s Tesla CEO Elon Musk (who was born and brought up in South Africa) versus Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: […]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union and South Africa are in “intense talks” on how to increase the availability of vaccines to developing countries, potentially breaking a year-long global deadlock on the topic, an EU official said on Thursday. The two have been on either side of the debate at the World Trade Organization – […]

Road rage incident sparks violent clashes between taxi operators and shop owners… By Joseph Chirume, GroundUp. Several minibus taxis and a car were torched in Korsten, Gqeberha on Wednesday. This followed after an accident between a taxi driver and a motorist turned into an altercation. Other taxi operators got involved and are alleged to have […]

Eskom suspended loadshedding on Thursday morning, following six days of rolling blackouts throughout South Africa. The State-owned power utility said it has used the past six days to repair generating units and conduct its maintenance programme. “While Eskom teams have returned some generation units to service… we have unfortunately suffered further breakdowns during the period. […]

While much of South Africa, including Cape Town, is suffering from loadshedding, it appears that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Signal Hill residence is immune to the electricity blackouts that have plagued the country for the past 14 years. Geordin Hill-Lewis – DA City of Cape Mayoral Candidate – says that load-shedding has trapped thousands of Capetonians […]

Bonang Matheba, arguably South Africa’s most famous  celebrity, has announced on Twitter – where she has over 4.9-million followers – that she has ended her contract with her management company, citing possible criminal conduct. In a series of tweets in the past few days, Bonang said she’d been quiet for too long and there were […]

Takesure Ranjisi worked as a waiter in Gqeberha for three years before he was retrenched in the 2020 lockdown, without any notice and with no payout, he says. He gave up trying to get Unemployment Insurance Fund money as his former employer did not cooperate. Ranjisi decided to set up his own pizza takeaway – […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared November 1 as a public holiday to give all those going to cast their ballots an opportunity to do so. The date is the day of Local Government Elections, where eligible voters will cast their vote for councillors who will represent them at local level. “The President calls on all […]

Voting for the World Travel Awards closes on 24 October and Cape Town is once again up for a host of awards, including the World’s Leading Festival & Event Destination 2021, a title it currently holds. To make sure that the City of Cape Town retains this prestigious accolade – which helps boost the local tourism […]

South Africa’s foreign affairs department – DIRCO – has terminated the employment of its Chief Financial Officer, Caiphys Ramashau, who was embroiled in the controversial (and hugely wasteful) R118-million New York Pilot project. The axing comes at the end of a disciplinary case which had been instituted against Ramashau. The ex-CFO faced charges related to […]

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, has announced a marginal decrease in the prices of petrol, while the price of diesel is expected to increase. Motorists are expected to pay four cents less per litre for 93 octane petrol, one cent less for 95 octane petrol per litre and at least 22 cents more […]

Why would more than 600 journalists from 117 countries collaborate on a global investigation of jaw-dropping scope? Find out tonight as Carte Blanche previews what is set to be the largest journalistic collaboration in the world to date – the Pandora Papers! With millions of leaked documents, Carte Blanche joins a global investigation into the […]

Cape Town will be taking South Africa’s ‘Red List’ issue to the UK’s High Commissioner, according to the City’s mayoral committee member James Vos. In a statement today, Vos revealed that he has been in constant communication with UK government officials about South Africa’s continued inclusion on the UK’s travel red list but will now […]

South African hotels have scooped the top FIVE spots for Africa City Hotels in the World Travel and Leisure’s “World’s Best” awards. Four of the five are in Cape Town. A thrilled City of Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato said this week: “As Mayor of this beautiful city, it gives me great joy to see […]

There were scenes of jubilation at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport as the first official flight from South African Airways (SA) took off on Thursday morning. SAA employees sang and danced after the months of uncertainty. WATCH SAA flight take off for first time in over a year The first #SAA flight has officially taken […]

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, South Africa, today ruled that the Department of Tourism’s implementation of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) as criteria for its aid fund is unlawful. Solidarity and AfriForum opposed the criteria of the Department in court. The verdict together with a cost order was delivered against the Department. The Minister […]