“We are losing profits. Our clients are impatient and always in a hurry. They can’t wait for about two and a half hours.” Toni Burton started Zizamele Ceramics in 2008. Located in Masiphumelele, a small township in the south of Cape Town, she employs nine people. She has trained them to do ceramics. She and […]

South African firm Bosasa has applied for voluntary liquidation after its lenders said they would close its accounts due to reputational risk, the firm said in a statement on Monday. “The extensive reputational damage in the past few months, occasioned by negative media reports, has resulted in financial institutions determination that the… group poses a […]

The South African National Parks (SANParks) on Friday announced the arrest of four suspected poachers – including a SANParks staff member – in an intelligence driven operation. The arrests took place on Friday in the Kruger National Park (KNP). The four were arrested in an operation led by members of the SANParks Rangers Corps supported […]

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 […]

People from around the world, including international celebrities Joanna Lumley, Evanna Lynch and Jan Leeming, pleaded with the Johannesburg Zoo to have a heart on Valentine’s Day and agree to free Lammie, a 39-year old female elephant who lives a lonely existence since her mate Kinkel died in September. Animal protection groups Humane Society International/Africa, […]

South African international front-rower Steven Kitshoff will miss at least the first month of Super Rugby after suffering a hamstring injury in preparation for this year’s competition. The injury, suffered in a warm-up game last week, has proven more severe than first anticipated, said Stormers coach Robbie Fleck on Thursday. “The outcome with him and […]

Despite the low probability of power cuts today Eskom is still facing myriad challenges that have affected its ability to meet demand. President Cyril Ramaphosa pulled no punches on Thursday when he detailed what needs to be done to get the power parastatal back on track. There is a low probability of load shedding today, […]

HONG KONG – Hong Kong customs seized a record 40 kg (88 pounds) of rhino horns worth around HK$8 million ($1 million) from Johannesburg en route to Vietnam, the latest bust for authorities trying to tackle the rising volume of endangered species trafficked through the Chinese territory. The seizure came less than one month after […]

Struggling state-run power firm Eskom subjected South Africa to the worst power cuts in several years this week, after a decade of missteps when electricity sales stagnated and costs soared. The outages expose the risks to Africa’s most industrialised economy from Eskom’s virtual monopoly and the failure of successive governments to take on labour unions […]

Fake credentials have become a global problem. The National Student Clearinghouse, a US NGO that offers a degree verification service, reports that falsified academic credentials are a serious, prevalent and ever-increasing problem. In 2015 the New York Times reported on a billion-dollar industry consisting of 3 300 “diploma mills”. These were fake universities that sold […]

“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 […]

If people are not willing to invest in a country, it is almost impossible to generate new jobs, writes Professor Vimal Ranchod.   South Africa’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world. It is consistently measured above 20%. This is a national crisis that feeds two of the country’s other big socio-economic […]

South Africa’s Treasury head Tito Mboweni is likely to appease rating agencies and squeeze a tenth of a percentage point off his previous budget deficit forecast for next financial year, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. The poll taken in the past week suggests Mboweni will announce a deficit target of 4.1 percent of gross […]

Durban radio announcer Damon Beard urged South Africans to listen in to his breakfast show on Thursday morning because “you could be the 1 in 100 000 person we’re looking for”. A KwaZulu-Natal mother Nicole Dry, who only today received “the news we were hoping not to receive ?” – that her son Ashton has […]

The Department of Public Enterprises said Wednesday that South Africa’s power utility Eskom is struggling to keep its mainly coal-fired plants running due to coal shortages and poor maintenance, with 40 percent of breakdowns a result of human error. The department, which oversees Eskom, also said in a presentation to parliament that Eskom was technically […]

South Africa is not planning to privatise embattled power utility Eskom after the firm is split into three separate entities of generation, transmission and distribution, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday. “At no stage has the president said, or the government indicated, that there would be privatisation of any of these entities or […]

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says the Eskom Board will appoint a panel of experts to do an assessment of all the power supply challenges that the utility has encountered over the past few days. Gordhan said this during a debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA), as Eskom implemented stage three load […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa used his State of the Nation Address on February 7 to outline his relatively new government’s actions and plans. Ramaphosa focused particularly on economic growth, investment and job creation. He also announced substantial investments in education, health and housing. But there was very limited focus on crime. Prevention strategies he […]

“There are so many people in our community who are unemployed yet we still see rubbish lying around”. On a scorching Friday afternoon, Ayanda Kunene sits under a makeshift shelter that covers his car wash. He is waiting for customers. Despite matriculating and actively searching for work, Kunene, 30, has never had a permanent job. […]

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 […]

When it’s loadshedding time in South Africa – South Africans turn to humour to ‘lighten’ the dismal Eskom situation! Here are some of the most popular load shedding jokes currently going viral: https://www.facebook.com/madamandevecartoon/photos/a.321074617940596/1976046595776715/?type=3&theater Check out top tips to survive loadshedding by Canadian expat Phil Maloney from Maple & Marula

If you live in South Africa, you’re very familiar with the term “load shedding.” If you’re not from South Africa, you probably have no idea what load shedding is writes Canadian expat Phil Maloney. In a nutshell, load shedding occurs when Eskom, the government monopoly that provides the country with consistently intermittent power, decides to cut off […]

South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday the prospect of more power cuts by utility Eskom was “most worrying”. The cash-strapped company warned of wider controlled power cuts on Monday after six additional generating units unexpectedly went offline. “That comes as quite a shock. It is reported that there are six units that are […]

Would you wait if it was your child or someone you loved? Robbie Eddles – an incredibly special and courageous 17 year old from Durban, South Africa – has just relapsed for the third time. He was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 5 years old and fought so bravely for so […]

Stage 4 load shedding has started today. As a result of continued pressure on the national grid, Eskom today moved load shedding measures from stage 2 to stage 4. The power utility has implemented stage 4 load shedding from 1pm until 10pm. Stage 4 load shedding calls for 4000 MW to be rotationally load shed […]