Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Well, Mother’s Day to be exact! Us guys who live in the UK thought we’d already adequately fulfilled our obligations for Mother’s Day on 30 March. Cards, coffee mugs, flowers, you name it, we bought it. Little did we know that the UK is one of the only places in the world that […]

This is dedicated to all mothers, young and old – how very special you are! To the tune of “Let it Be” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney When I find myself in times of trouble My mother’s words come back to me Faith will find the answer, wait and see At times when friends don’t understand me Her […]

Unfortunately the votes from four overseas cities have not been counted as they did not reach South Africa before the IEC’s deadline of 9 pm tonight. The four cities are: Toronto, Havanna, Madrid and Lubumbashi. According to a message on Vote Home SA’s Facebook page: “Please note that this was due to the votes being […]

The international votes are in with an overwhelming majority win for the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA has won 84.44 % of the international votes, with the African National Congress (ANC) in second position with 8.32%. There was a total of 18,132 valid overseas votes with 15,311 of these being for the DA, and  1,508 for the ANC. Agang, […]

As news comes this afternoon that the Nigerian Government apparently knew of Boko Haram’s planned kidnapping of over 240 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok…but failed to act, we publish (with permission) South African businessman and commentator Tshepo Motsitsi’s take on the lack of response from foreign governments  to try to rescue these girls. Two hours ago Amnesty International announced that: […]

#Elections2014 is done and dusted. The hashtag is, of course, by now de rigeur – these were the social media elections and Facebook and Twitter, blogs, followers, likes and trends are now as important as traditional media in defining the conversation. With over 95% of the vote now counted, it is clear that the African […]

While we await the final voting results, and in the light of Julius Malema’s EFF party coming third in the South African Elections after gaining over 6 % of the total votes so far, here’s a poem: An ode to F! (musings on a possible South African pop opera…) To the tune of “Yesterday” by the Beatles. […]

Lisa Ashton, CEO and founder of The Winnie Mabaso Foundation, is outraged by a luxury resort in South Africa offering a “Shanty Town” experience to local and overseas visitors. Here she explains why in an open letter to readers everywhere: FROM LISA ASHTON: Yesterday as South Africans all over the country cast their vote I was reminded of many […]

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced tonight that so far 17,906 votes from South African overseas have been counted. These votes have been captured by 106 foreign missions. The IEC is still awaiting the final votes from a remaining 10 missions. These need to be received by 9pm tomorrow night. The IEC said […]

South Africans awoke to the news that with just shy of a third of the votes counted, AgangSA and all the small parties with the exception of Julius Malema’s new Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, had surprised on the downside and the country had moved inexorably closer to becoming a two-party democracy. AgangSA, whose leader […]

Updated 8.35 pm, Friday 9 May 2014: Provisional results of the 2014 South African Elections are almost complete. As predicted the country’s ruling party – the African National Congress (ANC) – took an early lead with 59.09% of the votes by 11.15 pm last night, and by midnight had already surpassed the 10,000 mark vote tally. By 8.35 pm […]

Here’s a great guide to computer lingo in South African terms, from an email doing the rounds… Log On – Make the braai hotter Log Off – The braai is too hot Monitor – Keeping an eye on the braai Download – Get the firewood off the bakkie Hard drive – Trip back home without any […]

You’ve got to love South Africa and South Africans! Even though some of the queues at voting stations are seemingly endless, the locals who’ve lined up have turned the delays into a social gathering and are making the most of their day off (which is a public holiday in the country). Jarrod Aston said that […]

Reports have come in of chaos at voting stations where South African voters have forgotten to take their ID books along with them. It is compulsory to have your green bar-coded ID book (or smart ID card or temporary identity certificate) with you in order to vote. According to one voter, Sharika Assad, many people […]

Thank you Google for the special Doodle today, honouring the 2014 South African Elections! The doodle features the search engine’s letters in the colours of the South African flag with a flag-covered ballot box in the centre. Unfortunately the doodle is only visible to those using the South African version of the search engine – […]

On the eve of the 2014 South African Elections, Paul Christie has written the following poem for fellow South African voters… A South African Election (Read to the tune of “An English Country Garden”) How many promises do you see In a South African election? How many lies do they televise In a South African […]

A kitesurfer from Spain has created a wonderful video of Namibia in which he exquisitely captures the wildlife, the people, the natural beauty…and of course his passion – the kiteboarding…out on the wide open seas. David Romeu uploaded his video to Vimeo with this message: “Skeleton Bay is an amazing surf and kite spot; only […]

After the excitement of South Africans abroad voting last week, locals get their turn tomorrow to Make their Mark. Here are some answers in plain English for all those who may have questions about Election Day. Many of those who go to the polls tomorrow to vote for the first time will be too young to […]

It’s unusual for one writer to write about another, but a post on my Facebook page last night grabbed my attention. My FB friend and tweetpal Jani Allan posted a recent interview with someone called Glen Larmer on New Zealand’s RadioLive. So why am I writing about her? SAPeople readers will be familiar with Jani’s […]

American singer-songwriter Pharrel William’s hit “Happy”has spawned so many different versions of Happy-ness around the world from China to Cape Town…with the latest city to join in being Johannesburg. But now there’s another version that’s going viral -starring a bunch of dogs and a very serious and talented cat! The producers of the Johannesburg Happy version were given […]

A backlash has already begun to President Jacob Zuma’s latest claims that the Nkandla upgrades were a necessary security measure after his house was burned and his wife was raped. At an ANC breakfast this morning, the South African President made the revelation that his wife had been raped over ten years ago at his […]

It was a huge day for South Africans around the world on Wednesday 30 April 2014 when the country’s expats had their turn to vote for South Africa. For many it was an emotional experience that even touched the people back home. Here is a collection of just some of the comments, pictures and videos […]

The excitement and pressure is mounting now for South Africans in South Africa to make an effort to vote this coming Wednesday. Many have already indicated that after witnessing the effort that expats went to to get to voting stations that were often many hours’ drive (even flights) away from them…they are now determined to […]

SAPeople sent an email to all the political parties contesting the 2014 South African Elections, offering each the opportunity to tell us why South Africa should vote for them. So far we have heard back from one (see below)…We look forward to hearing from the others, and will print their 550-words or less as soon as […]

CNN seems determined to make those of us far from South Africa’s autumn sunshine even more homesick than we were. It has published a list of top 10 sensational wine farms. Journalist Claire Hu notes on CNN that “I’ve spent a decade visiting the most famous vineyards around the world. For sheer beauty, the winelands of […]