Google has today – Tuesday 27 April 2021 – published one of its famous doodles to celebrate South Africa’s Freedom Day. This year the search engine giant has selected the country’s national flower – the King Protea. “On this day in 1994, South Africa held its first post-apartheid elections, which granted citizens—regardless of their race—an […]

It was a fabulous Friday (23 April) for Big Bay Events in Hout Bay, South Africa, as a super pod of dolphins swam spectacularly and swiftly into view. With South Africa’s magnificent ocean grabbing some of the Oscar spotlight last night, thanks to My Octopus Teacher’s Academy Award win, here’s even more reason to celebrate […]

South Africa’s President and the country’s Arts and Culture Minister, along with thousands of other South Africans have welcomed the big SA win at the Oscars last night – Best Documentary Feature Academy Award for ‘My Octopus Teacher’. Here’s just some of the praise heaped on the spectacular underwater film: President Cyril Ramaphosa: Congratulations once […]

On Letsoala street, just metres away from where the 1976 Soweto Uprising took place, is the only weightlifting club in Soweto. Operating out of the front yard of defending SA Weightlifting Champion Khati Mabuya’s mother’s house, Lifting Dreams Soweto offers free weightlifting training for children aged nine to 17. Mabuya started the club in 2019 with his […]

In recent years Constitution Hill has steadily become a home for arts and culture in Joburg. In addition to its excellent museums, what was once a prison and a colonial fort is now the venue for the annual Afropunk and Bashu Uhuru music festivals, where global stars have beamed music and light into what was […]

My Octopus Teacher has WON the Oscar! A huge win for South Africa’s tiny octopus. Whoop whoop! The mesmerising underwater doc, which was filmed in the Cape Peninsula waters, emerged as the winner of the Best Documentary Feature category at the 93rd Academy Awards last night. The film charts the special relationship a man develops […]

As Elon Musk’s SpaceX sent more astronauts into orbit this week, his family have rallied to congratulate him for the historic achievement – using a ‘recycled capsule and rocket’. As Endeavour arrived at the Space Station today, SpaceX confirmed the safe docking and said “second time at the space station for this Dragon”. NASA said […]

Smuts Hall university residence has saluted some of the unsung heroes at the University of Cape Town who went “beyond the call of duty” and put their own lives at risk during the horrific fire that swept across Table Mountain last week. A video by Siya Ntuntwana captures their heroics (watch below). Naming the heroes, […]

It’s a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled motor vehicle), but it is also a mobile library. On Thursday, the VUSA Academy Programme launched its mobile library initiative in Langa. Lungile Moferi drives the library slowly around the streets of Langa, and makes his first stop at an early childhood development centre called Dalukhanyo Pre-School. He is greeted […]

In a year when we’re all holding thumbs that My Octopus Teacher wins an Oscar, we’ve got good news for South Africans on where you can watch the 93rd Academy Awards live. Where can you watch the Academy Awards / Oscars in South Africa? You can be a part of one of the world’s most […]

Brilliant South African author Deon Meyer has received France’s top cultural award – the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) – at a ceremony in Stellenbosch. Meyer, whose Afrikaans books are translated into French and numerous other languages, received the award on Tuesday, 20 April 2021. It […]

South Africa’s beloved former Public Protector Thulisile (Thuli) Madonsela, has had the French knighthood officially bestowed upon her in a beautiful ceremony in Stellenbosch this week. Writing on Twitter, Madonsela said she was “immensely overwhelmed with gratitude”. Prof Madonsela was appointed as Knight of the Legion of Honour by France’s President Emmanual Macron in November […]

The Snail and the Whale, directed by Max Lang and South Africa’s Daniel Snaddon, has won the Annie Award in Los Angeles for Best Special Production, which recognises excellence in animation. Animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish and produced by Magic Light Pictures, The Snail and the Whale (which is currently streaming on Showmax across most […]

The SA Cabinet has welcomed the recommendation by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority to lift the suspension of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Sisonke Vaccination Programme. The suspension in SA followed the suspension of the J&J vaccination rollout programme in the USA after six people, who received the J&J vaccine, developed a rare type […]

After reaching out to schools across South Africa with his coding project, Prof Jean Greyling from Nelson Mandela University has grave concerns regarding the new Coding and Robotics Curricula in the country. Prof Greyling has consequently written this open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa… Dear President Ramaphosa I am inspired and emboldened to write you […]

A 15-hectare piece of land on Cape Town’s Liesbeek River has been identified as the location where Amazon will have its headquarters in Africa, and will include numerous names and landmarks dedicated to the Khoisan people. The announcement earlier this week that Amazon would be centering its Africa operations in Cape Town was followed up […]

A piece of real estate on planet Mars has been named after a Namibian man, Jakob (Japie) van Zyl, who studied at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, obtaining an honours degree in electronic engineering in 1979. Van Zyl was the leader of the team that created Ingenuity Mars Helicopter which yesterday made history – becoming  […]

Amazon has announced that it will establish its South African headquarters in the City of Cape Town. The news has naturally been welcomed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) which governs the Western Cape. The Amazon project has the potential to create up to 19,000 jobs. The DA estimates that during the construction phase alone, there […]

Massive clean-up at Florence House… By Julia Evans. Residents of the derelict Florence House in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, have come together to remove nearly 500 tons of rubbish, accumulated over years, from their courtyard and are cleaning up the building with the help of civic organisations. Florence House in Hillbrow has no working toilets or drainage […]

Thousands of people watched a video of the Cape Town fire on Sunday that showed a white car parked in Table Mountain National Park, precariously close to rising flames. Many wondered what happened to that car… Madness #capetownfire pic.twitter.com/wOVWDYUfGj — Robyn Silverstone (@RobsSilverstone) April 18, 2021 Well, late on Sunday night on Twitter, a user […]

Gift of the Givers has swept in to feed thousands of students who had to evacuate the University of Cape Town after fire raged across the slopes of Table Mountain on Sunday,  destroying UCT’s library and other buildings, and leaving two firefighters injured and in hospital. The legendary disaster response NGO (the largest in Africa) […]

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has named VELDSKOEN as the official off-field shoe of South African Olympians, for this year’s games in Tokyo… which is a wonderful full-circle moment for the founders of the company. Veldskoen Shoes was started because of a conversation between Nick Dreyer and Ross Zondagh about the […]

The iconic Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, with support from Wildlife ACT, has released a new pack of Endangered African Painted Dogs into their new home. This is an important milestone in the conservation of this species as they are the most endangered carnivore in Southern Africa, with an estimated 3000-5000 individuals left in the wild, of which […]

The South African government has officially launched the COVID-19 vaccine online registration for the public as the Department of Health gears up for phase two of the country’s vaccine rollout. According to Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) is now available to the general public and all citizens aged 60 […]

Bryony McCormick didn’t mean to adopt Khaya, but she couldn’t get the friendly black and white ‘pavement special’ out of her mind… and today, Khaya is bringing so much joy to not only Bryony but also to a Cape Town trail running community called Chicks Who Trail. And now, Khaya has become a mascot for […]