Helium gas, it turns out, isn’t just for blowing up balloons and making friends laugh with a squeaky voice. It’s actually critical in life-saving industries. And just when world supplies of the non-renewable gas were dwindling – and the need for helium increasing – two South Africans made a miraculous discovery in the Free State. […]

In gratitude to the many South African soldiers who are women – and who will be unable to celebrate Mother’s Day with their children today – a women’s veteran’s organisation handed out female hygiene parcels to over 300 female soldiers on Friday. Former Umkhonto weSizwe and SA National Defence Force (SANDF) member, Granny Seape, said […]

Throughout their range leopards are in rapid decline, having disappeared from North Africa, much of the Middle East and Asia. Declines have been so severe that the species is now considered vulnerable to extinction. No comprehensive estimates of the number of leopards remaining in the wild exist. In southern Africa, 62% of leopard distribution falls […]

Top trainer Mike de Kock has warned of a “grim reality” featuring “loss of jobs and euthanasia” of significant parts of the horse population if the South African racing shutdown continues… writes Nicholas Godfrey from Horse Racing Planet. On Tuesday, the South African Government blocked plans for a resumption when it refused to allow the […]

In its virtual Caucus meeting held today, 9 May 2020, the ANC Caucus said it condemned in the strongest terms the “ill-timed and irrational” calls by the DA for the Lockdown to end. The ANC Caucus said in a statement on Saturday evening that the “levels of incitement by the DA Leader and calls for […]

A couple who made up a batch of home-brew beer to get round South Africa’s alcohol-purchase ban during lockdown died in agony last weekend after drinking one bottle of the ale each. Estate agent Tony Hilliar, 54, and his fiancée Alida Fouche, 42, had run out of their own supplies of alcohol and decided to […]

Eskom has received offers from a group of engineers, all former employees, who want to contribute their skills free of charge to help rebuild the organisation. Eskom said in a statement yesterday that the offers were unsolicited, and that many of the group – which one news report numbered at 60 – were former employees […]

Ronald Lamola, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, said about 19,000 low-risk offenders may qualify to be released from prisons across the country, which will decrease the prison population by about 12%, reducing overcrowding. Lamola was addressing the media on Friday afternoon after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the authorisation of parole for selected categories of […]

This week, Carte Blanche gives us an insight into the other side of the Global Pandemic that has caused distress to homeowners and tenants worldwide. You can watch the show on Sunday 10 May in South Africa on DStv Now or stream it overseas in most countries from Tues 12 May if you’re abroad. COVID-19: […]

In a hard-hitting speech where he said the government’s continued, irrational and unexplained lockdown was destructive and going to devastate many more lives than were necessary, Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said citizens were being treated like common criminals. “Much of the hardship we’re going through is unnecessary,” Steenhuisen said in an online speech today, […]

Cape Town, South Africa, has been buzzing this week with the arrival in Hout Bay of another super pod of dolphins. (In April, local residents under lockdown were entertained by thousands of dolphins swimming in the bay.) UPDATE: Super pod of dolphins swims into Hout Bay, South Africa on 23 April 2021. Cape Town resident […]

The French company Thales has lost its last bid to avoid going to trial for allegedly offering Jacob Zuma a bribe to protect the company against any prosecution that might arise out of the R60 billion arms deal 15 years ago, according to news reports today. In its decision, the Constitutional Court dismissed Thales’ appeal […]

A man dressed in an ANC shirt, with tags to an ANC event, was arrested by police after he was caught sleeping in his BMW with an empty glass in hand, a bottle of Glenfiddich nearby and food parcels in the back that were meant for the poor. Well done to this JMPD officer. I […]

Hair stylist Onele Cembi could be the first South African to write a Covid-19 message in his hair! The stylist from KwaNobhuhle, Uitenhage, says he wants to pass on the message about the virus to children and teach them how to spell by “writing” the words in his dreadlocks. “Children seem to be ignorant about […]

Poorer communities to the southwest of Johannesburg and even farther afield have been benefiting off the incredible feeding schemes being run by the Muslim Association of South Africa. Many of the communities MASA feeds are around Lenasia, such as Vlakfontein, but also the organisation has gone as far as New Scotland in Mpumalanga. Earlier today […]

Armed robbers – who thought they had hit the jackpot today when they stole cigarettes worth tens of thousands of rands from a Cape Town CBD convenience store – were promptly nabbed by Cape Town Central City Improvement District’s (CCID) Public Safety Officers and arrested by SAPS (SA Police Service). The robbery happened in broad […]

So in my little housely enclave, I’ve been thinking about what my thoughts are IRO the lockdown, about the changes around the world, about freedom, and how it’s – if at all – changed much in my life… Here’s what I’ve come up with!… writes well known South African radio and TV personality Melanie Walker. […]

The popular Farmer’s Weekly magazine, in business since 1911, will carry on publishing as normal, even though ten of its sister publications are on the block. Yesterday, Caxton Magazines announced that ten of its publications, including People, Bona, Rooi Rose and Your Family, would close. “Although things will evolve for us over the next few […]

Public and staff access to the Union Buildings has been limited following the confirmation of a positive case of COVID-19 on one of the staff members. The member of staff was not named. The Presidency said that in line with government’s guidelines on the management of COVID-19 cases, steps have been taken to secure treatment […]

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic based in Khayelitsha was robbed at gunpoint earlier today… when a gang barged through a gate that had been opened to return a large dog to its owner. “We keep our gates closed during lockdown to reduce people coming on site and spreading the Coronavirus. We take pets at the gate […]

The Roger Federer Foundation is donating $1 million to provide nutritious meals to 64,000 vulnerable young children and their families through its partners in Africa while schools are closed, the foundation announced today. On his Twitter page, the tennis star – whose mother Lynette Federer is a South African Expat – said, “Now more than […]

A total of 511 healthcare workers in the country have tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), says Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize. Addressing the media in Rustenburg on Wednesday at Job Shimakana Tabane Hospital, the Minister said of those who have tested positive for COVID-19, 149 have recovered, 26 were hospitalised and two have […]

M&C Saatchi Abel Group founder Mike Abel – who wrote an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in February, post-SONA and pre-Lockdown – has penned another open letter. This one is to Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (Cogta), Ebrahim Patel (Trade) and Bheki Cele (Police). It is cc’d to President Ramaphosa, Dr Zweli Mkhize (Health) and all South […]

A 23-year-old man has been arrested by the Hawks in Hartbeesfontein, near Klerksdorp in South Africa, in possession of lion skins, that could have come from the lion-breeding industry, and various drugs.   In a search of a house in Tigane in North West province, the police found three lion skins, mandrax tablets, half and […]

South Africans stuck in transit at Doha Airport in Qatar have just been given the great news that they will take off at midday today. The passengers – including Springbok and Lion hooker Malcolm Marx, and former SA rugby coach Allister Coetzee – have had a long night after their flight home was postponed because […]