In mid-2015 it was reported that the massive Gauteng Provincial Government Precinct (Kopanong Precinct) in central Johannesburg may finally be moving ahead. The project involves the “rehabilitation, development and management” of 21 buildings in the historic heart of Johannesburg at a projected cost of R5 billion. This is certainly exciting news, writes James Ball of The Heritage Portal, but […]

Hiker Alistair Hill and his friend Carla had read about a great hike in the latest Go! magazine stretching along the famous now-unused train track from Wilderness to Victoria Bay. Little did they realise it would be a hike not to remember, although their experience has started a dialogue on how to deal with crimes like this […]

A South African chef, Bruce Marais – who now lives in the USA – has posted the following videos and photos revealing the extent of the record-breaking Winter Storm Jonas – which some have called Snowzilla – as blizzards and gale-force winds have hit the USA this weekend, causing thousands of flights to be cancelled…including those […]

A wallet and its owner have apparently been safely reunited in South Africa thanks to the determination of the good samaritan who found it! At lunch time yesterday Andrea SebeLabenguni Dondolo posted a message saying: “So at the airport behind our car, guess what I find as I am about to load my luggage. A […]

It was 1966. Racial divisions were growing more entrenched in South Africa by the day but the issue was still little publicised abroad. A young black South African woman, however, was raising her voice against apartheid while cutting a swathe through the international music scene, opening doors for women, especially black women in years to come. She was the 34-year-old […]

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Jesse Clegg, the pop singer son of Johnny Clegg, will be doing a 35-show tour of the United States early this year, as soon as he has released his new album. Clegg – who has just released a brilliant new single, “Souvenir” (see video above and below) – said in an radio interview on Friday […]

In a new series out of Wits University about how Africa is covered in Chinese newspapers, Barry van Wyk looks at three journalists writing in January 2015 about visiting South Africa. Their trips left them with “decidedly mixed impressions”. One shows (“with obscure statistics”) that South Africa is the third most dangerous country for Chinese people. The other stories look […]

Cape Town mother and businesswoman Heidi Croxford, who’s passionately crazy about her country, has put together this video clip looking back at “our South Africa over the past 21 years…what it was, how we grew and where we are now!!!” The Melkbosstrand resident says the soundtrack – ‘Land of Confusion’ (by Genesis, and performed here by […]

Cape Town traffic officer Nizaam Alexander – has been awarded the City of Cape Town Traffic Services Departmental Officer of the Year Award after he was shot on duty…and still managed to finish writing out a fine before seeking medical attention for himself! The Western Cape provincial government uploaded a video to YouTube honouring the […]

Don Clarke and Special Care’s music video ‘Zuma Must Fall’, which SAPeople.com shared last week, has taken off…making headlines in and clocking up tens of thousands of views with the lyrics being widely shared. This morning Clarke said: “As my song ZUMA MUST FALL edges towards 65K hits [which it has now surpassed] on YouTube […]

The luxurious boutique hotel Ellerman House, overlooking Bantry Bay in Cape Town, has joined 49 illustrious other hotels around the world in the latest “50 Greatest Hotels” named by the British Telegraph newspaper. The three other hotels in sub-Saharan Africa that made the list were designed, owned or managed by South Africans. They are Wilderness Safaris’ North Island […]

Penguins seem to have collected more than their fair share of annual days – there’s today’s Penguin Awareness Day (20 January), World Penguin Day (25 April) and African Penguin Awareness Day (17 October). But there’s a reason for this – they need our awareness! So here are 10 points about penguins we all should know… 1. African […]

Princess Charlene of Monaco, who converted to Roman-Catholicism shortly before her wedding in 2011, made her third visit to the Vatican on Monday, dressed in white and accompanied by her husband Prince Albert II. According to the Monaco Palace the couple met with his holiness Pope Francis to discuss a range of topics including environmental and climate […]

For anyone who hasn’t seen a South African theatre production recently, “Singin’ in the Rain” will astound you. The famous musical – which is actually seeing a revival on Broadway this year – gets nothing but praise, praise and more praise. After a wildly successful run in Cape Town – with audiences in the first three rows getting ponchos […]

Baboons were visiting our home in Hermanus, in the Western Cape, South Africa, today. They were here all day. I suspect the fires in the surrounding areas is what drove them to search for food in town. It’s a humbling experience when you recognise the humanity in animals. Like us, they have family structures and […]

Capetonian Kim Stephens has been overwhelmed and humbled by the response to an open letter she wrote to the South African president asking him to “take a run”. Apart from media requests, she’s also received “about 1 friend request every 2 minutes from complete strangers”! Kim said on her facebook page that 99 percent of […]

Reactions today in South Africa to Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane’s speech on race and identity in the country have been mixed. While many welcomed his words and said it was “charged with emotion”, “showed sincerity” and laid bare “some uncomfortable truths”, there were some who said it made them “cringe”. If you weren’t watching the live feed, […]

Philani Dladla’s story is well known to those who know him as the Pavement Bookworm and have bought books from him on Empire Road in Johannesburg, South Africa. But now he has added author to his résumé, with his newly published book titled, of course, “The Pavement Bookworm”. Dladla – whom we wrote about in […]

After a successful launch yesterday of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the rocket landed in one piece, as hoped…but then tumbled over and broke followed by a spectacular ball of fire. Watch video below. An epic failure some would think…but one which Musk is sure to say is […]

Even though the news from South Africa these past months has been alarming – the Rand having fallen to record lows, unemployment as high as ever, and the worst drought in years gripping the land – there is a silver lining: 2016 will possibly be the best year ever to travel to the country if […]

Watch South African entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX attempt to send a rocket in to orbit and then land it back safely on a barge in the sea…take off is at about 8.42 pm South African time. (See UPDATE below.) Watch the live webcast above or below. According to SpaceX: “With this mission, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will […]

Three years ago this weekend, small-town Mpumulanga schoolgirl Pretty Yende made her debut at the world-famous Metropolitan Opera House in New York. More astonishing than her voice was that it had been only a decade since Yende had learned what the word “opera” meant. This weekend Yende posted a message on Instagram from Paris, where she is soon to […]

While some of us are having Sunday breakfast, reading the papers and maybe enjoying a Sunday stroll…South African entrepreneur Elon Musk – founder of companies like PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla electric car – will be monitoring the progress of his Falcon 9 rocket, hoping engineers will be able to guide this one to land safely […]

Check out this awesome footage as South African professional kiteboarder Luke McGillewie takes to the air, and almost lands on the beach, in Cape Town yesterday. Fellow kitesurfer Jamie Farrell uploaded the video on Wednesday, saying: “They say the wind hit 51 knots (94 kilometers per hour ) today in Cape Town… And what happens in Cape […]