In February the low-cost African airline fastjet will be expanding what is expected to be a growing list of flights around Africa, when it flies two new routes from Zimbabwe to Johannesburg. Johannesburg is already a destination for fastjet from Dar es Salaam and will be the first international destination for fastjet Zimbabwe, according to recent news reports. […]

The online campaigning group Avaaz has gathered more than 1 million signatures worldwide against Yahoo Japan for allegedly allowing the sale of ivory online. Avaaz launched the campaign accompanied by a horrific photograph of an elephant with its tusks and trunk severed, with the words, “Yahoo – stop your deadly ivory trade!” In an open letter […]

PRETORIA – The South African government has condemned the terrorist attacks that took place in Mogadishu, Somalia. At least five people were killed and several others injured in suicide attacks at a restaurant located at the Liddo Beach on Thursday evening 21 January 2016. The Al-Qaeda linked group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. “South […]

A KwaZulu-Natal municipality in South Africa has awarded scholarships to 16 young women who are virgins and who will undergo tests throughout the course of their studies to prove that they remain “pure”. This was the condition given to the 16, who were awarded the Maidens Bursary Award from the UThukela District Municipality. According to news reports on Friday, the […]

Chaos broke out in Kempton Park on Saturday after police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets following the death earlier of a Nigerian man in police custody. A large group gathered outside the private hospital, as shown in this video: According to various reports, Nigerians at the Arwyp Medical Centre in Kempton Park said the 38-year-old man, […]

HOBART, AUSTRALIA – A South Africa rapper has been jailed in Tasmania, Australia, for indecently assaulting a fellow artist who was asleep in her hotel room, it was reported. Brian Simiso Zwane, who performs as OkMalum­Kool­Kat­, was trying to get a fine so that he could leave the country on Friday, but he was given a month-long jail […]

Foreign direct investment in South Africa fell by 74 percent in 2015 to $1.5 billion, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released on Wednesday. “Central Africa and Southern Africa saw the largest declines in FDI,” UNCTAD said. “The end of the commodity ‘super-cycle’ had an impact on resource-seeking […]

For any expat living in the United Arab Emirates, it is one of the hardest things to watch – wild animals, often from Africa, not living in the wild and free but being kept in small private zoos and gardens and coddled like pets. Well, that might soon be a thing of the past. According to news reports […]

The African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party all retained their wards in the nine by-elections contested in five provinces on Wednesday, the Independent Electoral Commission said. The IEC said the voter turnout varied between 26.36 percent and 53.56 percent with an average of 38.93 percent. Two wards were uncontested. The ANC kept four seats in […]

President Jacob Zuma’s office on Thursday released an unusual statement reprimanding a South African business journalist for saying that Zuma was a no-show at an important World Economic Forum debate, and chose to have discussions with the Swedish premier instead. “Zuma has bailed on the Africa Panel – no Pravin either. Defeats the purpose of coming to […]

A total of 1,175 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2015, down from 1,215 a year earlier – a drop of 40 in all – the Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said on Thursday. This would be the first time that figures – though still staggeringly high – had fallen since 2007. Numbers escalated drastically especially since 2011, […]

JOHANNESBURG – The U.S. rapper Mos Def will stand trial in South Africa in March after being arrested for presenting a “world passport” when trying to fly out of the country, according to news reports on Wednesday. At the same time the hip hop artist posted a freestyle rap (see below) on singer Kanye West’s website, […]

It’s been a heady week for the block of flats at the top of Long Street in Cape Town, where a #ZumaMustFall banner went up on Friday, had its photograph taken by countless people over the next 24 hours, but was torn down by ANC members on Saturday. Now the building has been draped with a […]

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND – A delegation of at least 55 people headed by President Jacob Zuma is busy making its way from South Africa to Switzerland to take part in the World Economic Forum, which starts on Wednesday and will reportedly be a tough one for Africa. The South African group at Davos will include government members, and business and […]

Glenn Frey – acclaimed guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of The Eagles – has sadly passed away in New York at the age of 67 from complications due to rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and pneumonia. Many South Africans grew up in the ’70s with popular Eagles’ classics (many of which he co-wrote)  – like ‘Hotel California’, ‘Take it Easy’ and ‘Heartache […]

Reactions today in South Africa to Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane’s speech on race and identity in the country have been mixed. While many welcomed his words and said it was “charged with emotion”, “showed sincerity” and laid bare “some uncomfortable truths”, there were some who said it made them “cringe”. If you weren’t watching the live feed, […]

The Economic Freedom Fighters said on Tuesday it notes that the party’s national chairperson Dali Mpofu is legal counsel for Gareth Cliff in a civil case against M-Net. The EFF said it acknowledges Mpofu’s professional right and obligation to represent whomsoever approaches and briefs him on any issue that relates to law and said “in our view, […]

It will take 160 years before a baby in Africa has as much chance of being born alive as a baby in a high-income country, according to new research published today by esteemed medical journal The Lancet. The publication claims 3,287 lives are lost each day due to preventable stillbirths, and that the slow progress on the […]

If you are upset that South Africa’s Charlize Theron didn’t get nominated by the Academy Awards for her brilliant performance in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, that’s nothing compared to the racial furore that’s been caused by people of colour having been overlooked, with two well-known movie industry members saying they won’t attend the 2016 Oscar awards in […]

A senior member of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters will represent well-known radio personality Gareth Cliff in his lawsuit against M-Net claiming he was unfairly dismissed from Idols SA for a tweet he posted apparently did not showing empathy. Cliff will be represented by Dali Mpofu, according to news reports. Mpofu left the African National Congress to join the EFF in 2013, […]

President Jacob Zuma has officially said he made a mistake about Africa being the biggest continent in the world. It is, he admits, the second biggest in terms of population after Asia. In a statement released on Monday, the Presidency referred to a speech Zuma made on 9 December at a dinner in Sandton, where he said […]

The former Idols SA judge Gareth Cliff, who was one of several people publicly taken to task in past weeks for remarks they made on social media over the racial debate, has sued the TV channel M-Net for firing him, according to a news report. On Monday it was reported that the radio personality was suing […]

While some of us are having Sunday breakfast, reading the papers and maybe enjoying a Sunday stroll…South African entrepreneur Elon Musk – founder of companies like PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla electric car – will be monitoring the progress of his Falcon 9 rocket, hoping engineers will be able to guide this one to land safely […]

The six-storey banner saying #ZumaMustFall that went up on Friday at the top of Long Street in Cape Town – resulting in pictures of it being shared on social media over a million times in the first hour (according to the campaign’s facebook page) – has been torn down by African National Congress (ANC) supporters after the […]

Baleka Mbete, the speaker of Parliament, is to receive an award named after Martin Luther King – leader of the African-American civil rights movement – in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C., on Sunday. The Martin Luther King Legacy Award for International Service is bestowed annually by a Washington-based health organisation – the Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural & […]