A Cape-Town video production house created a video called “Sh*t South Africans Say” back in 2012… which gets resurrected annually and goes viral all over again. The video captures all the usual suspects from ‘eish‘ and ‘kif‘ to ‘boet‘ and ‘just now’, but also includes another phrase some South Africans are prone to saying: “guess […]

Why vote? Am I eligible to vote? Where do I vote? What are my rights as a voter? Read our plain English answers to these and many more questions about South Africa’s 2014 elections. Jump to: Before election day On election day After election day Before election day 1. Why vote in the elections? By […]

The response to this year’s general elections from South Africans living abroad has been, in a word, underwhelming. As reported by SAPeople this morning the authorities have hardly gone out of their way to make it easy for its far flung citizenry to exercise their democratic rights and this may be partly responsible for the […]

Right now, the little town of Bedford in the Eastern Cape is frantically a-bustle under its normal serene exterior. The Old Gaol is being festooned. Various kitchens around town are being tarted up. Wine is being ordered in. Guest house duvets are being fluffed. The newly-renovated Duke of Bedford Hotel is looking too grand for […]

Tomorrow South Africans overseas will get their opportunity to vote in the South African elections; but it’s come with a lot of frustration, heartache and pain…amidst accusations of apathy Disappointingly, only a little over 26,000 expats have registered to vote. If all of these people turn up tomorrow to vote, they would only be able […]

Taking Stock, a South African documentary exploring the “conflicted connections between business and family, community, and country” is within touching distance of getting made. The Kickstarter-funded project needs to raise just a further $150 within the next three days. The documentary will be filmed over June this year and will take an in-depth look into the life […]

Freedom Day meant a lot to a LOT of South Africans today. Twenty years of freedom and democracy, joy and heartache. Here, a few South Africans share their feelings… Message from Lawrence Hilton: I wrote a blog two years ago to celebrate Freedom Day and my Mom’s life called Happy Freedom Day! Out the blue […]

Congratulations to expat Jan Greeff for officially making it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest consecutive barbecue marathon by an individual. Jan, who hails from Stellenbosch, began his braai master attempt at 7am on Thursday morning and is still at it right now, as he aims to set the new record […]

This Freedom Day, as you settle round the braais, maybe with a beer or two, or hunker down to watch the sport or whatever it is you do on a Sunday, take a minute to cast your mind back 20 years to when you stood in those long queues to cast your first “proper” vote. […]

The books team at the Sunday Times has put together a list of the top South African books that they believe give readers insight into the country’s transition into a free and democratic nation. Here we highlight the past 20 years of winners of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, South Africa’s premier literary award. Named for […]

There’s something deeply adventurous about rootling around an old Karoo farm junkyard, clutching a camera and a very big stick. The camera is for when the morning light falls softly on the red rump of an ancient, pensioned-off Massey Ferguson tractor. The very big stick is for the Cape Cobra – the dreaded geelslang – […]

She may not be Jesus of Jerusalem, as former Police Commissioner Bheki Cele once reminded her, but Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2014, according to Time magazine. She is, as Lamido Sanusi, former governor of the Bank of Nigeria described in the biography he penned for […]

South African Jan Greeff is attempting to break the World Record for the longest consecutive barbecue session. He has already been braai-ing for one day and three hrs in the USA, with an official Guinness World Records® judge on site to witness the validity of the attempt. According to South African expat Tracy Martin-Immelman, who is […]

Paul Christie’s “A Poem for Returning South Africans from the UK” sparked a lot of feedback from expats around the world. Most loved his light-hearted teasing that they’ve “forgotten how to braai a tjop…or make a potjie stew”. Some were indignant. They’re better braai-ers now. Some, like Alan Clark in the UK uploaded photos proving […]

South African players received a favorable draw when the official draw procedures for the Airports Company South Africa Gauteng Open were concluded on Tuesday at the Gauteng East Tennis Complex in Benoni. Stephane Houdet of France tops the men’s seeds and is scheduled to meet arch rival Gordon Reid of Great Britain in the final. […]

Presley Chweneyagae of Tsotsi fame returns to the South African big screen on Thursday when crime thriller iNumber Number, the fourth film by award-winning director Donovan Marsh, opens in cinemas nationwide. Chweneyage stars opposite lead S’dumo Mtshali in an action-packed story about a pair of cops battling corrupt colleagues as well as a gang of armoured-car thieves. Sello […]

As South Africa celebrates 20 years of a vibrant and robust democracy, it commemorates a significant trial in the country’s turbulent history the 1963 to 1964 Rivonia Trial. The trial – named for the Johannesburg suburb in which members of the African National Congress’s (ANC) armed wing (Umkhonto We Sizwe, The Spear of the Nation) […]

Cape Town is the design capital of the world and in true, cutting edge form, South Africa’s first fashion film event will be hosted in the city. The lavish Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival will run from 5 to 7 June. The Mother City, known for its beauty, vineyards and international jet setters who […]

A video of a very smart “Honey Badger Houdini” in South Africa has been viewed over 21.7 million times as of 10 March 2020. (When this article was first published in April 2014, it had been viewed 1.5 million times.) The four-minute video of Stoffel the Badger’s great escape attempts is an excerpt from a […]

A moving South African rendition of ‘Everybody Hurts’ has been uploaded to YouTube, featuring footage of many of the local children in the Port Elizabeth vicinity who will be helped by the album’s sales. The album is an initiative of Ocean Rock Entertainment which was started in 2011 to support the Eastern Cape music and […]

Following the controversial open letter which Jani Allan published on her blog last week (14 April 2014), the Pistorius Family – through Anneliese Burgess, Media Manager – has released a statement claiming that Allan’s suggestions that Oscar had “acting lessons” are devoid of all truth. The paralympian, who is on trial for the alleged murder […]

The virtual noise of digital media surrounding the Oscar Pistorius murder trial after 25 long days of testimony, has diminished since Judge Thokozile Masipa granted Advocate Gerrie Nel’s request for a postponement until May 5. Taking a break from proceedings, the legal teams have time to review what’s ensued to date and to regroup. Oscar’s […]

South Africans are everywhere…even in the deepest forests of the Amazon! We caught up with Michael Langford, a Capetonian who is currently living in Cusco, Peru where he promotes responsible travel to the nearby Peruvian Amazon. Here he shares some of his stunning photos from a recent rainforest trip (a 30-minute flight from where he […]

I placed my foot with sheer terror on what I perceived to be a shifting and sliding mass of gulping sinking sand…and to my utter surprise I found that I was not swallowed whole. I discovered that although this landscape was a totally new terrain, it was firm underfoot. I wasn’t sure where the path […]

For many of us, the mere thought of running a 56-km ultra-marathon is exhausting. For Eduline Mutize it’s a challenge she feels compelled to do…twice! Eduline plans to run today’s Two Oceans once for herself, and once for the millions of orphans in the country – to give them a voice. The 28-year-old  runner did […]