Residents and tourists to Cape Town in South Africa have been enjoying the most exciting day of the Cape Town Pride Calendar today – the Parade and Mardi Gras which marks the final day of the 10-day Cape Town Pride festival. Fabulous floats and live performances created the perfect atmosphere at this year’s parade in […]

The Dusi Canoe Marathon pre-race favourites, Andy Birkett and Khumbulani Nzimande, took the men’s honours while Cana Peek and Christie Mackenzie won the ladies stage despite a few incidents on Thursday. Euro Steel’s Birkett and Nzimande played their cards close to their chests during the first half of the stage and while the Cape crew […]

For two months late last year, the deadly antibiotic resistant CRE (Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae), ravaged the maternity ward of Tembisa Hospital in Gauteng killing 10 babies. But this wasn’t the first time that a number of infants have died in the same period inside a public health facility in South Africa. Carte Blanche investigates the hospitals […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has at last directed the repatriation of South African citizens from Wuhan city in Hubei province, China… as other news comes to light that two South Africans working aboard the Japanese Diamond Princess Cruise Ship have tested positive for Coronavirus (Covid-19). According to a statement from the SA Health Department, 12 of […]

In a segment on his award-winning The Daily Show, South African expat and comedian Trevor Noah says: “The coronavirus is the worst global pandemic since Baby Shark” and asks (with tongue in cheek): “Is this how we die?” The talk show host also shares footage from around the world on leaders responding to the epidemic […]

On Friday 28 February 2020, Capetonian marathon swimmer, musician and mother-of-three Carina Bruwer will attempt to swim approximately 20km to cross Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth, in support of Muzukidz, an organisation that offers underprivileged children the opportunity to learn the violin. If successful, Carina will be the first woman and the second person […]

A South African expat couple who own the Karoo Farm Shop in Killinick, Wexford, have won the Best Cafe Award in Ireland for their region. The Irish Restaurant Awards are known as the Irish Food Oscars, according to the Restaurant Association of Ireland. An elated Clint and Nessa Engelbrecht posted a photo with the award […]

Between Germiston and Benoni is an open metal dump where more than 20 women survive by collecting scrap metal. Daily they pick through heaps of metal waste dumped by companies on the East Rand, looking for copper, stainless steel, zinc and brass. There are no ablution facilities and the women have to use the bush […]

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has handed over 249 Shova Kalula bicycles to learners from six schools in De Aar in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The bicycles were distributed on Monday through the Department of Transport’s initiative, Shova Kalula bicycle programme, aimed at assisting learners who walk more than three kilometres — but less than […]

The Department of Employment and Labour says the new rate for the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for each ordinary hour worked will now be R20.76. In terms of a notice published in the Government Gazette and signed by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, the new rate will be applicable on 1 March 2020. The […]

Two Saturdays ago, while most of us were sleeping, a group of South African Water Warriors headed across the country to deliver food, fodder, water and hope to desperate strangers they’ve never met in the Northern Cape town of Kenhardt, one of many places in South Africa still gripped by drought and despair that’s so […]

Grab a tissue to watch the video below as South Africa’s well known Good and Kind Samaritan – Bi Phakathi – helps another family in South Africa. Bi has been helping South Africans everywhere, often giving money to homeless or impoverished people, or taking them shopping. The gratitude from this family is overwhelming as Bi […]

“Things often just look like they’re falling apart and there can be a lot of finger pointing and blaming. But Help Up has opened up people’s imagination to the fact that things can actually be fixed if everybody gets involved,” says Georgia McTaggart, founder of a small and growing river cleanup initiative called Help Up. […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah entertained talk show host Ellen and her audience on Monday with a hilarious story about how he trained with intense tennis coaches to play in Cape Town, South Africa, with Rafael Nadal in a doubles match against Roger Federer and Bill Gates… in front of the most spectators ever (52,000 […]

A happy hippo cruising in to a garage on Sunday evening in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has put a smile on locals’ faces. On Monday a video of the hippo’s casual stroll through a busy Engen Garage in St Lucia was shared on social media amongst South Africans everywhere. The OK Express at Engen St Lucia […]

Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as Tim Jenkins – a real life ANC activist, who was imprisoned in Africa’s maximum security prison in Pretoria in the 1970’s during the Apartheid years – says he was captured by the script from the start. “As soon as I read the story and found out about the escape, and […]

A 59-year-old German tourist is alive and well today thanks to two unidentified Good Samaritans who rescued him after he was swept out to sea by rip currents at Herolds Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa, on Friday. The Good Samaritans were a surfer and body boarder who apparently used their boards as flotation […]

A Sedgefield couple are on a mission to help street children transition from vandalism and petty crime, to attending school and gaining an education to become positive contributors to society. We all know that the authorities and Education Department should be doing this… but until they do, South Africans can’t afford to waste time complaining […]

Wayde van Niekerk’s return to full fitness gathered momentum as he won another two races, this time in the 100 and 200m, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, at the weekend. Four years ago the South African superstar smashed the Olympic and world 400m records of 43.18 set by American Michael Johnson in 1999 when he clocked […]

A father of four, who recently tragically lost his wife when she gave birth to their twins, has been overwhelmed by the support of South Africans nationwide… after he had a chance meeting with a stranger at Cradlestone Mall on the West Rand in Gauteng. The stranger was mother of two (Tanya and Neels) and […]

With everything stacked against him, there’s a little elephant in South Africa who’s survival is putting smiles in all our hearts and making news around the world. This Sunday Carte Blanche meets the wildlife heroes in South Africa who are saving a rare albino baby elephant who was severely injured by a poaching snare. You […]

In a dig at competitors’ “chicken nuggets”, Nando’s has produced a tongue-in-cheek video ad asking just which part of the chicken those nuggets come from? The conversation takes part between a rival fast-food chicken outlet and a customer… and there’s a definite hint that maybe it’s the “bum part” and that it’s “modified”. At the […]

South Africa’s Culinary Team has won three bronze medals at the IKA Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart, Germany. South Africans are urged to welcome the team back when they arrive at OR Tambo International Airport tomorrow, 22 February 2020. “Bring your SA flags! Your vuvuzelas and your Welcoming spirit tomorrow, 22 January @ 8h45AM at OR […]

South African expats watching the new winter series of the UK’s popular Love Island have been in hysterics over some of the things happening on the show… since it’s filmed in Cape Town, and as expats they have an insider’s knowledge! Juliet Searle from Irene in Pretoria, who is now living in West Sussex, penned […]

Echoes of apartheid-style exploitation of workers have resurfaced in recent years in South Africa. Debates around these malpractices were given fresh impetus four years ago with the release of a documentary, Bitter Grapes. Produced by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann, it featured workers from South Africa’s winelands. Bitter Grapes cast light on wide-ranging exploitation. Hardships included […]