Since late last year, South Africans have, once again, been subjected to power cuts by the power utility, Eskom. The need for what’s called load-shedding – planned power outages – led to the recent resignation of Eskom’s chairperson and a flurry of concern about the current and future reliability of electricity supply. It has also […]

A South African restaurant at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town has been announced as the Guinness World Records official titleholder for ‘Most Varieties of Milkshakes Commercially Available’. With 207 “decadently divine” shakes on offer, Gibson’s Gourmet Burgers & Ribs has a shake to satisfy everyone’s taste buds… from the most popular (Chocolate of course) […]

A call has been made for Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, to place the National Lotteries Commission under administration, fire its board and suspend its Chief Operating Officer, in the light of ongoing revelations of fraud, corruption and nepotism involving multi-million rand Lottery grants. The request by Dean Macpherson, the Democratic Alliance’s Shadow […]

The tragic death of a young eight-year-old girl – Modisa Mbhele – in QwaQwa has led to violent protests in the eastern Free State town, and the arrest of over 30 people. Modisa’s death is being blamed on the water crisis in the area. She tragically drowned while collecting water from the river in Mandela […]

Today is the deadline for South Africans to make submissions on Eskom’s proposed tariff hikes for the period of 2019-2022; and South Africans are being urged to exercise their right to make their voices heard before it’s too late… by submitting their objections to the tariff hike to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa […]

One of the things that brings South Africans together is our ability to laugh at ourselves and at all the cultural differences that make our rainbow nation so fab. Nobody seems to capture this better than South African advertisers – like Nando’s and King Price. This month it’s the unapologetically South African insurance company that […]

The National Lotteries Commission has given more than R11 million to non-profit organisation (NPO) called I Am Made for God’s Glory, which has in turn paid R2 million to a private company of which the sole director is the cousin of the chief operating officer of the National Lotteries Commission. According to leaked bank statements, […]

South African legislation governing expatriate tax exemption is set to change dramatically from 1st March 2020, affecting South Africans worldwide. This includes anyone who has permanently settled in another country. Those who do not comply with the new requirements face stiff penalties and risk up to two years in prison. To help expatriates understand their […]

If you’re in South Africa having problems accessing SAPeople.com or any other international websites, it’s not you or us… it’s the cables! Apparently in a ‘freak’ coincidence two major undersea cables connecting SA with the rest of the world have broken down. According to AfriHost, engineers have established that the SAT3/WASC break is in the […]

South Africa needs to seriously start thinking about shifting its energy focus. This is for two reasons. The first is that the country’s important exports – coal and platinum – face potential collapse with the imminent shift of global energy markets. A number of factors are driving this. The move away from vehicles powered by […]

Eskom announced in a statement on Saturday morning that there will be no loadshedding today in South Africa, thanks to its hardworking teams who put in a hard slog overnight. It said however that owing to the “constrained and vulnerable system”, there is a risk of loadshedding (power cuts) on Saturday evening and Sunday. “Thanks […]

The South African government says President Cyril Ramaphosa has noted the resignation of Jabu Mabuza as member and Chairperson of the Board of Eskom Limited. Mabuza tendered his resignation on Friday, 10 January 2020. In his resignation letter, Mabuza apologised for Eskom’s inability to meet the commitment it made to the President, the Deputy President […]

South African power utility Eskom confirmed Friday morning that Stage 1 load-shedding will be implemented from 06h00 until 23:00 today, 10 January 2020. In a statement on Friday, Eskom said as a result of some generating units returning to service, it was able to stop Stage 2 loadshedding at 06h00 this morning, at which point […]

Tourism Minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane has congratulated South African Airways (SAA) for being named as one of the top-performing airlines globally for on-time performance (OTP) by travel data and analytics company, Cirium. The International Airlines Transport Association’s benchmark of OTP is that an airline is on-time when it arrived within 15 minutes of the scheduled time […]

South Africa’s prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme has achieved remarkable successes in recent years. It has improved the health and life expectancy for pregnant women living with HIV, and it has reduced the risk of transmission of the virus to their offspring. HIV can be transmitted during pregnancy, at the time of delivery, and through […]

The Class of 2019 matriculants are expected to be glued to their television screens tonight as Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announces the national results of the 2019 National Senior Certificate matric exams. The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) announced the private schools’ matric results at midnight last night. The Basic Education Department will release the […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his condolences to the family of esteemed business leader Dr Richard Maponya, following his passing in the early hours of Monday. Widely respected as the doyen of black business, Dr Maponya passed away in Johannesburg just a few days after his 99th birthday. “We have lost a pioneer, a trailblazer and a […]

Eskom will not be implementing load shedding on Monday, despite a constrained and vulnerable system. “There is sufficient water at the pumped storage schemes and we have managed to conserve diesel at our open cycle gas turbine generators and continue to work to replenish the diesel levels,” Eskom said. These emergency reserves will supplement the […]

South African Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has condemned the torching of 24 Shosholoza Meyl coaches in Bloemfontein at the weekend. Mbalula said the arson attack is a pure act of criminality and will be dealt with as swiftly and as harshly as possible. The damage is estimated at R90 million. According to the Ministry of […]

The festive holiday season came to an abrupt end on Saturday for South Africans… who were plunged back into darkness by Eskom’s power cuts. The state power utility – which did its best to keep the lights on for Christmas and New Year – announced on Sunday morning that loadshedding Stage 2 would continue today […]

Sixteen lions at a lodge in Rustenburg, South Africa, have been killed by poachers. The faces and paws of eight of the adults were hacked off, most probably to sell their teeth and claws to be used in ‘black magic’ potions or ‘muti‘. Distraught Gert Blom, 51, who owns Predators Rock Bush Lodge in North […]

Carte Blanche covers a Rolex murder, Sperm Donor Siblings, DNA database disasters plus more, on Sunday 5 January – on DStv Now if you’re in South Africa, and available to stream from Tues 7 January on Showmax International in most other countries.  Mammoth Families – the Stories of Sperm Donor Siblings How would you feel if […]

The Department of Home Affairs has extended its working hours in anticipation of an increase in demand for services. “The Department of Home Affairs is extending operating hours to 7pm from 02 January to 10 January 2020 to meet the anticipated increase in demand for our services during the period before the schools reopen. The […]

A fire at Tokelo High School in Evaton – which was deliberately caused by “mindless thugs” – has led to the destruction of learner material worth an estimated R4 million, said the Gauteng Education Department. Four information and communications technology (ICT) classrooms on the first floor of a block of eight classes burnt down in Thursday’s […]

Despite a constrained and vulnerable system, Eskom is not expecting to implement load shedding on Friday, the power utility said today. “There is no load shedding expected today, as a result of a drop in demand during the holiday period and a return of some generating units to service. Eskom will continue to use emergency […]