In a week in which Professor Jonathan Jansen described the current protests at campuses around South Africa as a “tragic movie [that] does not end well”, the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) has invited all students, staff and alumni to attend a General Assembly on Friday 7 October from 11:00 to 12:30. Wits said: “It is […]

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has, on the recommendation of the National Assembly, appointed Advocate Busisiwe Joyce Mkhwebane as the new Public Protector for a period of seven years, with effect from 15 October 2016. The President – who recently had to pay back some of the costs of his Nkandla homestead upgrades thanks to a […]

DAVID MILLER and Andile Phehlukwayo both played the innings of their lives to get the Standard Bank Proteas across the line for a four-wicket win over Australia, with four balls to spare, at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead on Wednesday evening… to clinch the Momentum ODI Series by a 3-0 margin with two matches still to be played. […]

Sixteen-year-old Taahirah Zungu from Mafikeng in the North West Province in South Africa, was crowned as Miss Teen Universe 2016 in Turkey with World League of Beauty & Fashion. Taahirah was crowned at a ceremony in Bodrum. She also walked away with the titles of Miss Sympathy, Photomodel of the Universe and Best Talent in the Teen […]

The 2016 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) has been released today. It is the 10th release by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and reveals overall significant improvement in governance over the past ten years across Africa, with unfortunately deterioration in Safety and Rule of Law holding progress back. Sadly South Africa is one of those that has deteriorated […]

Although South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has called for unity in addressing the current university fees crisis in South Africa, which has seen student protests raging on campuses around the country, his words appear to have distanced students even further… with many on Twitter calling his speech a “fail” and “empty”, displaying “no leadership”. Speaking […]

Thanks in part to the proliferation of fake South African passports and South Africans who perhaps arrive in New Zealand and never leave, New Zealand has become the latest country to make it a little more difficult for South Africans to visit their friends and family living in the country. As of 21 November this year […]

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson referred to the continent of Africa as “country” while delivering a speech on his first three months as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.  Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Johnson said: “For all its difficulties, life expectancy in Africa has risen astonishingly as that country has entered the global […]

Conservationists have reacted with shock, outrage and bitter disappointment as it was announced in South Africa on Sunday evening that the CITES Committee has approved the ongoing trade in lion bone, setting “quotas” for the selling of bones of captive lions. Consumption of lion bone in Asia has increased over the past few years as […]

FAF DU PLESSIS led another splendid batting display with his sixth century, helping the Standard Bank Proteas to a massive 142-run win over Australia and a 2-0 lead in their Momentum One-Day International (ODI) series after the second match at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Sunday. The stand-in South Africa captain batted through a hand injury […]

Springbok coach Allister Coetzee said the Springboks 18-10 win over the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday, was an important boost to the team’s confidence for the remainder of the season. “It was an important win, not only for our confidence, but also self-belief,” said Coetzee. “I am a very happy man and […]

South African football player Jason Johannison, who moved to Australia when he was eight, has won one of his new country’s most prestigious sporting awards – the Norm Smith Medal! The AFL (Australian Football League) called his team’s win a “fairytale” that “stretched all the way to Johannesburg” because of Johannisen’s medal win. AFL.com.au described the 23-year-old […]

Late Friday night (30th October), lion conservationists were left feeling angry and frustrated at the fate of the once mighty and proud African Lion, when news broke that Lions may NOT be listed as a CITES Appendix I Endangered Species (a listing which would further safeguard lions from extinction). To decide the fate of the […]

South Africans – particularly those who live in the Eastern and Northern Cape – breathe about the cleanest air in Africa, according to a new WHO report on Air Pollution Exposure. WHO has released the findings from a ‘Country Estimates on Air Pollution Exposure and Health Impact’ study, with a new air quality model, that confirms […]

QUINTON DE KOCK struck the second highest ever score by a South African as the Standard Bank Proteas scored a crushing six-wicket victory over Australia in the first Momentum One-Day International (ODI) played at SuperSport Park on Friday. The young opener blasted 178 from 113 deliveries, clubbing 11 sixes and 16 fours along the way, […]

Congratulations to Capetonian photographer Micky Wiswedel whose awesome photo of athlete Jamie Smith won the Wings Category in the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2016, announced this week in the USA. The South African photographer headed over to Chicago for the Awards this week, telling friends as he left that he was “pretty damn stoked” to be […]

New evidence of Japan’s failure to control illegal ivory trading at a time when Africa’s elephants face extinction is revealed in a damning report released Wednesday*. The report from the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals the identities of four Japanese ivory trading companies that offered to sell elephant tusks to undercover investigators […]

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – SABMiller <SAB.L> shareholders overwhelmingly backed the brewer’s $100 billion-plus takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev <ABI.BR> on Wednesday, clearing the last big hurdle for one of the largest corporate mergers in history. The combined group will sell more than a quarter of all beers sold worldwide and be the fifth largest consumer goods company. […]

Nationwide scenes of violence and protests on university campuses have continued today in South Africa, with several witnesses reporting “police brutality” at Rhodes University, where rubber bullets were fired and 10 students were arrested at the Law Faculty. One social media user said: “I’m heart broken and speechless. Why are we shooting at children?” Another said: […]

I’ve been based at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) since the massacre (of six rhino) which took place on World Rhino Day. On Monday I was reunited with my awesome friend, rising global artist Toya Delazy (see video below), born Zulu Princess Latoya Buthelezi. As we roamed this great land, memories of Toya’s childhood came flooding back to […]

UberEATS becomes available in Johannesburg tomorrow, offering “Joburg favourites, delivered faster”. At the UberEATS launch today, the company said the service “gets you the food you want from the restaurants you love, faster than anyone else.” Users are advised to download the app to select and order their food, which will be delivered to their door. The […]

Afrikaans feature film, Noem My Skollie, has been nominated as South Africa’s official entrant into the 89th Annual Academy Awards! The film, which was launched in South Africa earlier this month by Ster Kinekor Entertainment and is still on circuit, has been selected by a special jury – put together by the National Film and Video […]

The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Hlaudi Motsoeneng has captured the country’s attention again with a new SABC appointment and quotes and claims that go beyond normal big or perhaps even pig headedness! But the country’s Public Protector and opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) will be investigating his appointment. Yesterday, after it was announced that Hlaudi – […]

South Africans in Australia have been relieved to hear that – in recognition of the importance of family – a proposed new visa in Australia will make it easier for migrants’ parents to visit them. In keeping with an election promise, Alex Hawke – Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Control – has launched a discussion […]

A South African expat in New Zealand, Darius DeWet, has spoken today about the circumstances which led to authorities believing he was missing, and a national rescue effort being launched as coastguards searched the ocean for him… twice! Twenty-year-old Darius, who is currently grounded in Whakatane, told local journalists that he had had no idea […]