As the taxi industry counts the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, intergovernmental consultations on a Taxi Industry Relief intervention are at an advanced stage. This was confirmed by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula during a virtual meeting with the National Taxi Alliance (NTA) on Sunday. “The Departments of Transport, Small Business, Labour, Trade and Competition as […]

Albert Camus was a 20th century French Algerian thinker who won the Nobel Prize for his literary works. These days it is his novel The Plague that has naturally been receiving attention. In this essay I instead consider what Camus’ philosophical classic, The Myth of Sisyphus, reveals about the status of our lives with COVID-19. […]

What strategy should South Africa follow to contain the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the current 35-day lockdown? Any strategy should be informed by the trajectory of the disease, the effectiveness – or otherwise – of the current lockdown and how the particularities of the country will interact with the virus. These include high […]

Loyal South African Airways (SAA) staff are begging the South African public to please support them in persuading the government to not turn its back on the airline. Listen below to a heartbreaking message from one of the airline’s pilots to South Africans to take to social media and help #SAVESAA. According to reports, the […]

With this week’s arrest of the Gupta brothers in Dubai, it’s worth watching ‘How to Steal A Country’ – a fascinating and shocking documentary, by an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, on the rise and fall of the Gupta family and how they managed to ‘steal’ South Africa. (Updated 8 June 2022) As hard as it is […]

Any person or small business in the tourism sector, regardless of their skin colour, can apply for financial relief from the Tourism Relief Fund, says Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane. The minister said this following Afriforum’s announcement that it had served the department with court papers calling for the review of the Tourism Relief Fund. There […]

Cape Town has become the biggest city in South Africa to offer commercial and private property owners rates relief if they can prove that their income has been negatively affected by the Coronavirus crisis. In a statement today the leader of the Democratic Alliance John Steenhuisen congratulated Cape Town “for offering much needed property rates […]

The city of Zhuhai – known as the ‘Chinese Riviera’ – has become the second city in mainland China to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat, and of wildlife, in what campaigners at animal charity Humane Society International (HSI) hope will be the start of a domino effect of progressive legislation across China […]

The Department of Home Affairs has outlined temporary measures that have been put in place to address immigration matters during the lockdown period. The temporary measures were introduced after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a National State of Disaster on 15 March and subsequently a national lockdown from 27 March, extended until the end of April […]

As the world staggers under the catastrophic impact of eating a wild animal, probably a pangolin, the South African government has reclassified 130 wild animals as meat. The next pandemic could be round the corner with its epicentre at the southern tip of Africa. South Africa has embarked on a mission to commercialise and commoditise […]

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank has suddenly decided to cut the repo rate by 100 basis points. This takes the repo rate to 4.25% per annum, the Reserve Bank said in a press statement on Tuesday. The Bank said the May 2020 meeting of the MPC was moved earlier […]

A Bloemfontein mother’s open letter to the SA president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is striking a chord with South Africans around the nation. Writing in Afrikaans, Cathy de Lange, a blogger and owner of Meringue Mama, says she knows the chance of the president reading her letter is very slim, but that the message was heavy on […]

Amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, over 240 leading animal welfare and conservation organisations from around the world have this week called on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to publicly confirm the link between live wildlife markets and the serious threats to human health; and to also recommend that governments worldwide permanently ban live wildlife markets […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa tonight announced an extension to the current 21-day national lockdown by an extra two weeks to the end of April 2020. The President thanked South Africans for their patience and said “I have to ask you to make great sacrifices” and to continue this little bit longer to help prevent the possible […]

Whether you’re working remotely, home-schooling, or just binge-watching an old favourite to pass the time, you’re probably putting in maximum time with your devices. Chances are that you’re reading this article on a phone or tablet right now! When was the last time you gave the screen a good wipe?  Disinfecting surfaces is one of […]

Environment minister Barbara Creecy’s decision to allow vastly expanded West Coast beach mining in South Africa has prompted sharp criticism from environmentalists, reports John Yeld for GroundUp. Appointed at the end of May last year, Creecy, minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, was seen as a new broom, particularly after making a number of […]

Lwazi Sithole has lived on the streets of Durban for over eight years, but since the national lockdown to disrupt the spread of Covid-19, the 28-year-old has moved to the Denis Hurley Centre, and has started to rethink his life… writes Nokulunga Majola. “I had forgotten what life is like off the streets. Here at the […]

As rating agency Fitch announced its decision to downgrade South Africa from ‘BB+’ to ‘BB’, placing the country further into non-investment grade, the SA government has emphasised its commitment to implement structural economic reforms. In a statement on Friday, government said it has noted the decision by the agency. In its decision, Fitch cited the […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for an end to “arbitrary limitations” on what can be sold in stores that are open in South Africa during the lockdown. The confusion around what are considered “essential items” in grocery stores, pharmacies and the like, is unhelpful and should be ended, says the DA. “I will write […]

This Sunday, Carte Blanche investigates how hundreds of desperate South Africans stuck abroad on almost every continent are dealing with this crisis. You can watch the show on Sunday 5 April in South Africa on DStv Now or stream it overseas in most countries abroad from Tues 7 April on Showmax International. C O V […]

One of the world’s leading news broadcasters, the BBC, has praised South Africa for its “ruthless efficiency” in fighting the coronavirus, and for its “formidable leadership”. “South Africa seems to have acted faster, more efficiently, and more ruthlessly than many other countries around the world,” says the BBC, stating that more than 47,000 have been […]

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 […]

As South Africa enters Day 7 of a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, Eskom has announced that it will double maintenance work at its plants. “With the COVID-19 national lockdown in full effect, Eskom has experienced a significant reduction in demand for electricity. “Electricity usage has dropped by between 7 500MW and 9 000MW since the lockdown […]

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has rescinded the directions allowing 100% loading capacity for taxis with immediate effect. The decision follows concerns raised about the 100% loading capacity and the utilisation of masks as a mitigation measure. “The public was without comfort with these measures and urged that we reconsider. After our announcement of catering for […]