On an ordinary day in Johannesburg, listening to the news on the radio, I heard an advertisement that made me stop short. Shutterstock In the exaggerated manner of a pseudo naturalist, a man narrates shopping for shoes with an apparently female partner. “It’s dusk and you’re in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by predators hunting for fresh […]

South Africa’s Department of Basic Education recently released the country’s National Senior Certificate results for the class of 2019. These are commonly known as the “matric results” and they determine school-leavers’ admission and placement into tertiary level study. About 81.3% of those who wrote the matriculation exams passed. There has been much well-deserved celebration of […]

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 […]

K9 hero dog, Hulk, who is a valuable member of an anti-poaching unit in South Africa, has – with emergency treatment – survived a frightening attack by a swarm of bees, in which he was stung 450 times. Hulk is one of the brave dogs on Pit-Track’s anti-rhino poaching frontline. Pit-Track, which operates on anti-poaching […]

After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s shock announcement this week that they will step down as senior royals and live between North America and the UK, South African comedian Trevor Noah weighed in with his thoughts on the radical change. Calling being part of the royal family the “sweetest gig” you could ever get, and […]

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 […]

Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has officially declared the Northern Cape a disaster area in light of the drought that has crippled the province for the past number of years. She announced that R200 million will be directed in funding to the area to address the crisis. This comes just a day after Democratic […]

The reverend who runs the Central Methodist Mission on Cape Town’s Greenmarket Square has condemned the “fallout between the refugee leadership” at the church. Reverend Alan Storey said, in a statement published on Friday, that this has caused a “volatile” and “hostile” environment in the church. Services this Sunday have been moved to Observatory’s Methodist […]

Team South Africa has two athletes competing at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics which are being held in Lausanne, Switzerland, until 22 January. In making the announcement, governing body SASCOC named Thabo Rateleki and Hanle van der Merwe to compete in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events. They will be accompanied by their coaches, Alex […]

The City of Cape Town says it will soon begin “enforcement operations” against the group of refugees camping outside the Central Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square. This is according to JP Smith, Mayco Member for Safety and Security. This comes after two meetings this week with representatives from the refugees, SAPS, Home Affairs and the […]

South Africa’s Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, has expressed her gratitude for the expertise and professionalism of the crew that crash landed in distress yesterday in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ensuring that no lives were lost. The Minister said in a statement Friday morning, that the crew managed to ensure […]

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 Africans in the Karoo region were singing in the rain on Wednesday as they finally received a huge downpour of summer rain, after about five years of devastating drought. In some areas there was flooding… but gratitude was the only emotion most residents felt. There was jubilation in the Northern Cape as rivers were […]

South Africa finished their ATP Cup campaign in Brisbane as runners-up to Serbia in Group A after a comeback victory over France 2-1. Represented by Kevin Anderson, Lloyd Harris, Raven Klaasen, Ruan Roelofse, Kholo Montsi (who broke into the Top 12 IFP Rankings this week) and Jeff Coetzee (captain), the country needed to win 3-0 […]

Buckingham Palace says it “understands” Prince Harry and Meghan’s desire – to step down as ‘senior’ members of the royal family, and live between North America and the UK. The Palace said in a short statement on the Royal Family’s website: “Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We […]

South African teen sensation Kholo Montsi has broken into the Top 12 of the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Junior rankings! Tennis South Africa announced the news on Wednesday evening, saying: “‪What a moment for ?? Kholo Montsi! ?‬” The 17-year-old has been seen court-side in Brisbane, Australia, this week where he was part of Team […]

Louis Oosthuizen has given Team SA a big boost by making himself available for the Tokyo Olympics later this year, writes GARY LEMKE. The country’s No1 golfer, ranked 20th in the world, confirmed his availability for the Games as he prepared for the defence of his SA Open title, starting at Randpark in Johannesburg on […]

Representing South Africa, Kevin Anderson fought his way to a close victory against France’s Benoit Paire in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday evening local time at the ATP Cup. The first set went to the Frenchman, 6-2. In the second set, Anderson fought back for SA to level the match 7-6 against a frustrated Paire. In […]

Congratulations to Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis who has been named the African Women’s Coach of the Year again. Ellis has proved herself again to be a coach extraordinaire! In January 2019 the formidable South African coach was named the CAF Women’s National Team Coach of the Year 2018, and during 2018 Ellis made […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is “horrified and outraged” at the shooting of one of its Members of Parliament, Cameron Mackenzie MP, in an attempted robbery at Dainfern Ridge Estate in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, on Tuesday night. MacKenzie was wounded and rushed to hospital. “This attack has proved yet again, that no one […]

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 […]

Kevin Anderson (33) may live in the USA, but the SA expat is playing with all his heart in Australia – representing South Africa!  On Monday in Brisbane, Anderson continued his strong start to the 2020 tennis year when he beat Chile’s No1 player Cristian Garin 6-0, 6-3 to deliver South Africa their first ATP […]

  There was a wonderful moment at the Golden Globes ceremony at the Beverley Hills Hilton in Los Angeles last night – where Tom Hanks, recipient of the 2020 Cecil B. Demille award, and South Africa’s Charlize Theron (who presented it to him) showed off their mutual admiration… but that’s not the moment that Hanks […]