DAR ES SALAAM – A prominent Chinese businesswoman dubbed the “Ivory Queen” was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Tanzanian court on Tuesday for smuggling the tusks of more than 350 elephants, weighing nearly 2 tonnes, to Asia. Yang Feng Glan had been charged in October 2015 along with two Tanzanian men with […]

Game drive passengers experienced a terrifying display of charging elephants while out in the Kruger National Park, in South Africa, earlier this month.  It turns out the elephants were trying to scare off a lion pride (out of camera sight) who were too close and who were perceived as a threat. https://youtu.be/yuTpR81N98c The footage was […]

The Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone has signed new investment agreements, which bring the total number of signed investors to eight and investment value to over R3 billion. These investors include international stakeholders from the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with the rest being local companies. All these investors are investing in […]

Caster Semenya has said the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) breached confidentiality regulations ahead of her appeal hearing on Monday where she is fighting for her athletics future. The South African 800-metres double Olympic champion is seeking to overturn a new set of IAAF regulations that are aimed at lowering the testosterone levels of […]

South African George Knoke visited Sethare Lodge in Botswana and came across this astounding piece of art by Angus Van Zyl Taylor called Reflective Resonance. Georg commented on his Facebook page: “The logistics to get this sculpture here from South Africa- across the border into Botswana- must have been a massive challenge! The stone sculpture […]

Pangolins, a group of unique African and Asian scaly mammals, are considered to be one of the most heavily trafficked wild mammals in the world. They are hunted and traded for their meat, scales, and other body parts, and used as traditional medicines in parts of Africa and Asia. Of the eight pangolin species, four […]

LOISABA CONSERVANCY, Kenya – Images of a rare African black leopard have been captured in Kenya, the first verifiable record of the animal for nearly 100 years, researchers have said. Using motion-sensitive cameras set up near water holes, researchers from San Diego Zoo Global and the Loisaba Conservancy captured video of the largely nocturnal cat […]

“The gold is right here in the soil”. Located between Marievale military base and Nigel is an old gold mine, Vlakfontein, where informal miners extract gold from the mine dump. “The gold found at this old mine is very easy to extract and in a good month one can make R10,000 or more,” explains Mozambican-born […]

Manufacturing — a vital industrial sector — has shed 300,000 jobs. Unemployment in South Africa increased from 23.2% to 26.7% between the first quarters of 2008 and 2018. The actual number of jobs increased from 14.4 million to 16.4 million, but the number of people wanting to work (the labour force) increased much faster, from […]

Broadcast TV isn’t an option and using self-publish platforms like YouTube means competing with millions of videos from across the globe, so how do SA film students get their work noticed? A recent deal between the video-on-demand service Showmax and African film school AFDA is set to showcase local talent in an entirely new way. […]

South African media have been invited to submit entries for the 2019 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Media Awards competition. The awards are aimed at recognising excellence in journalism in print, photo, television and radio, as well as to encourage media practitioners in member States to cover issues pertaining to the region. They were established […]

On this day in 1990, Nelson Mandela left Victor Verster Prison in Cape Town a free man, after spending 27 years in prison. Accompanied by his then-wife Winnie, Mandela was enthusiastically received by the throngs of people who gathered to see him outside Cape Town’s City Hall. Mandela spent 18 years on Robben Island and […]

For the best part of a decade, South African artist Nelson Makamo has had a deal with his 11 year-old cousin, Mapule Maoto. He pays for her studies, and she agrees to model for his colorful paintings. Today, with fans all over the world praising his work, including the likes of Oprah Winfrey, it’s turned out […]

Several dozen employees of South African state power firm Eskom picketed the firm’s headquarters on Wednesday protesting against potential job cuts and a proposal to split up the ailing company. Eskom, which supplies more than 90 per cent of the power in Africa’s most industrialised economy, is struggling with around 420 billion rands ($31 billion) […]

It was in the late 1980’s that apartheid negotiations reached a sensitive stage. Former President Nelson Mandela had been diagnosed with Tuberculosis and was transferred to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. Just two years later at the SONA of 1990 the then President F W de Klerk announced that he was to […]

South Africa says it is actively playing its part to combat transnational organised maritime crime, while remaining committed to combating lawlessness at sea. Ambassador Mxolisi Nkosi, the Deputy Director-General of Global Governance and Continental Agenda at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), on Tuesday addressed a United Nations Security Council debate on transnational […]

South Africa will in the coming days unveil a package of measures to shore up state-owned Eskom’s finances and address structural issues facing the struggling power firm, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday. “In the coming few days we will be announcing a package of measures to stabilise as well as to improve Eskom’s financial, […]

Over 10 000 cattle affected by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) have been vaccinated to eliminate the spread of the outbreak. This follows confirmed FMD in cattle in the Vhembe District of Limpopo early this year. Updating the media on the status of FMD in Pretoria on Monday, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana said […]

World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti says thousands of lives can be saved in Africa with proper cancer prevention, early detection, access to proper treatment and care. Moeti made the remarks on Monday as the world commemorates World Cancer Day. This year’s World Cancer Day is observed under the theme “I am […]

Former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang, arrested in South Africa in connection with $2 billion in fraudulent loans, submitted an urgent bail application last week, one of his lawyers told Reuters on Monday. Chang, who has been in custody in South Africa since Dec. 29 and denies wrongdoing, had previously dropped plans to apply for […]

Zimbabwe’s Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is receiving treatment in South Africa, the second time in four months, after falling ill last week, a privately owned newspaper reported on Monday. The health of Chiwenga, 62, is closely followed in Zimbabwe because he is widely seen as the power behind President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the front-runner to […]

The National Press Club has named President Cyril Ramaphosa as the 2018 Newsmaker of the Year. This annual award, hosted by the National Press Club since 1980, awards a newsmaker in a calendar year based on the amount of media coverage received as well as the impact thereof. Nominations and motivations are received from members […]

UPDATE: For South Africans abroad there will be a special overseas voter registration weekend from the 1 – 4 February at all SA foreign missions. Don’t miss this opportunity to register to vote! The 2019 National Election is going to be one of the most important that South Africa faces since 1994. All South Africans living abroad can […]

The nationwide shutdown in Zimbabwe last month hit hospitals hard. Nyasha (not his real name) tells how his dying mother was treated… Following a call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, much of Zimbabwe closed down from 14 to 18 January. Demonstrators took to the streets in protest against a sudden steep hike in […]

Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, will tomorrow announce a set of immediate interventions the DA will pursue in order, it says, to resolve the current crisis occurring in Zimbabwe… because, they say, so far South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government have failed to show leadership and intervene in what has now become […]