The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has commenced payments to the Workers Affected By Unrest (WABU) Relief Scheme and has so far disbursed R6.4-million to 1 402 workers that were affected by the July 2021 unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. In a statement on Monday, the department said the payments were made from applications received from […]

Dozens of climate justice activists gathered outside Parliament as part of a global day of action on Saturday. Climate activists picketed outside Parliament on Saturday demanding government take drastic action over climate change. The Rural Women’s Assembly criticised the COP26 talks in Scotland for excluding the voices of small-scale African farmers and others most affected […]

Athol Williams is a South African hero. The speaker, author and advocate – who hails from Mitchell’s Plain – was the first person to earn Masters degrees from five of the top universities in the world. He’s also an award-winning author and poet; and a passionate South African who couldn’t keep quiet when he saw […]

With the relaunch of a double-daily service between Cape Town and Durban, kulula.com says it has fully restored its pre-COVID route network. In the case of the Cape Town and Durban service, capacity has actually increased, says Desmond O’Connor, kulula.com Chief Commercial Officer. Pre-COVID, the airline operated one flight per day on the route. Daily […]

Eskom has unfortunately started implementing load shedding Stage 4 in South Africa from 13:00 Monday afternoon… and Stage 4 is set to last until 05:00 on Friday, after which it will be downgraded to Stage 2 until 05:00 on Saturday. This comes after the power utility announced on Sunday that it expected to continue with […]

Energy investments will help overcome the debilitating load shedding (power cuts) that South Africa is currently experiencing, as new electricity generation capacity comes online, says President Cyril Ramaphosa. In his weekly newsletter to the country, the President said that energy continues to be an area of growth in South Africa as the 25 preferred bidders […]

South Africa’s famous and ultra-luxurious Blue Train has derailed. The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning at Union Station in Elandsfontein, near Germiston, Gauteng. Fortunately there were no passengers on board. Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) confirmed that 19 empty coaches of one of the Blue Trains derailed at the Union Station Loop […]

Eskom has announced that “regretfully” Stage 2 loadshedding – which is just a pretty word for rolling power cuts – will continue throughout the week ahead from 05:00 on Monday until 05:00 on Saturday. Since the power system remains “volatile and unpredictable”, Eskom cautioned that “higher stages of loadshedding may be required” (as happened last […]

This Sunday Ina Bonnette speaks openly about her horrific ordeal – in which her then husband and his three accomplices raped and tortured her, and murdered her son in the room next door. Known as the Modimolle Monster, her ex Johan Kotze – who is now in jail – violently attacked her just over eight […]

For South Africans who groaned when Stage Two load shedding was implemented on Friday morning, things got a little worse this afternoon as Eskom implemented Stage Four power cuts from 2pm. The loadshedding has been caused by “numerous issues” and further shutdowns at power stations. Total breakdowns have cost the grid at least 17 000MW […]

South Africans are facing another round of power cuts despite promises from South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, that it would keep the lights on. Unexpected breakdowns and scheduled maintenance at various generation plants have been blamed for reduced generation capacity. These have compromised the stability of the national power grid. Since this affects everyone in […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa will later today attend the announcement of the final results of the 2021 Municipal Elections, which are likely to show the ANC with less than 50% of the vote for the first time since 1994. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will make the announcement after South Africans headed to the […]

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. […]