Community spirit in Ballito  is high, with a thriving online community on Facebook…and a new video celebrating just how happy they are. The beachside town on Kwa-Zulu Natal’s North Coast recently created their own version of Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy” (watch below). The video features the best of Ballito including many members of the community who […]

South Africans around the world are grabbing for the tissues to get them through a breathtaking new video that showcases South African scenes and scenery at its best. The new SA Tourism brand video is aimed at tourists, telling them that “when you #MeetSouthAfrica you’ll reconsider what you think you know”…but it’s many of South […]

South African cabinet ministers named yesterday by President Jacob Zuma were, in the main, not chosen because of their technical knowledge, skill or sector experience. Rather, Sunday’s promotions, demotions and new appointments reflect the need to reward the loyal, appease some opponents and punish others, and perhaps most importantly, reflect the myriad ethnic and class […]

It’s been a year to the day since South African expat Gela-Marie Williams won the Finch Memoir Prize in her new homeland Australia for her inspiring and heartbreaking ‘Green Vanilla Tea’. At that moment she was at a crossroads in her life and career, a self-described “woman in the process of reinvention”. Twelve months later and […]

Congratulations to Mayenzeke Shweni and Zweiliwile Hans from South Africa for coming first and second in the Individual Finals of the Blade Shearing category at the World Sheep Shearing Championships this weekend in Ireland! Together Shweni and Hans also scored a first for South Africa in the Teams Final for the same category. Jim Cully, […]

SA Tourism has launched a new video ad campaign which showcases South Africa with breathtaking cinematography…coupled with a fairly sombre message asking potential tourists to “reconsider” South Africa. The video, with a British voice-over, begins by posing the question: “what is beauty?”. After  answering with a stream of stunning visuals of SA scenes, as well as using sentences […]

The Franschhoek Literary Festival is one of the Groot Menere of all South African litfests. As authors of the Karoo Keepsakes series, my wife Jules and I normally hang out at smaller gatherings, like the Richmond Boekbedonnerd affair, the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival at home here in Cradock and WordFest in Grahamstown. In fact, we’ll […]

Today’s inauguration of President Jacob Zuma, which marks the start of his second and final term as state president, will be attended by around 20 000 people who will feast their eyes and ears on the best pageantry that South Africa has to offer. But amidst all the pomp and ceremony that marks one of the biggest days […]

Some of South Africa’s hottest young surfers will be riding it out next weekend in the second leg of the Quiksilver “Takes One to Know One” event in Umdloti. The KZN North Coast event – which will be held on 31 May to 01 June – will feature close to 90 surfers and offers over […]

Since the National Elections, many of those South Africans overseas who made a massive effort to vote have raised questions about the election process from the mysterious VEC10 form to the lack of voting stations and the distressing news for those in four cities that their votes were never even counted in the end. In a blog post […]

Thandani Ntshumayelo apologised to his Orlando Pirates team-mates today on Twitter, after the bare-all photo he posted of them on Instagram caused a bit of a sensation! After the team’s 3-1 win against Bidvest Wits on Saturday in the Nedbank Cup Final 2014, the guys posed proudly with their shiny new trophy…in the shower! Stark […]

Bafana Bafana have left today for their Australasia tour…and they need our support! So if you’re an expat in that region, please go cheer them along on 26 May (Australia) and 30 May (New Zealand). The football team faced a major crisis in the days leading up to their departure, as many players withdrew from the […]

Here’s an interesting TED talk by an American finance executive, Mellody Hobson, imploring businessmen and citizens to make a concerted effort to not ignore race. She argues that speaking openly about race creates better businesses and a better society. Mellody happens to be one of the only two black women in the USA to chair […]

So this isn’t a South African story, but we couldn’t resist sharing Jimmy Fallon’s latest video offering. The popular American TV show host got into a little bit of “nip syncing” with pro-footballer Terry Crews (whom you may recognise as the star of the Old Spice commercials). A very buffed-looking Fallon appears to hold his […]

Ardent Oscar opponents may yet be granted their wish for him to be locked up and the key thrown away. The Olympian athlete with carbon-fibre prosthetics, who killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013, begins his court-ordered mental health evaluation next week. This ruling follows earlier testimony by forensic psychiatrist Dr Merryll Vorster […]

South African “lion whisperer” Kevin Richardson’s videos of him playing, wrestling and hugging lions have become famous throughout the world. But his latest one has a very stylish twist. In this video Kevin plays football with the lions whilst dressed in a very larni suit. The video, which was created for fashion house Van Gils, has […]

British Supergroup One Direction announced today that they will be touring South Africa next year. The band released a statement this morning saying “here’s a bit of a huge announcement for you. Who’s ready for ANOTHER tour in 2015? The ‘On the Road Again Tour’ to be exact! IDHQ x” Apart from South Africa, the […]

South Africa’s version of Burning Man – Afrika Burn – has become the largest, and many would say the best, of over a hundred worldwide burning events that have been inspired by the original hedonistic art festival in Reno, Nevada. Burning Man in Reno has become a popular destination for, amongst others, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Facebook’s […]

The Cell C Sharks game today versus The Crusaders at their home turf in New Zealand, will go down in history. Not only because the Sharks defeated the Crusaders for the first time ever in Christchurch in Vodacom Super Rugby history, with their 30-25 win which keeps them at the top of the log. But […]

Gauteng businessman, Agang SA supporter and Facebook commentator Tshepo Motsitsi writes an open letter to Dr Ramphele: I’m ambivalent about open letters but if I were to write an open letter to Dr Mamphela Ramphele it would be along these lines: Dear Dr Ramphele, In 2013 I got actively involved in politics inspired by your […]

For those who haven’t visited Durban for a while – it’s changed. And for the better! Durban’s beachfront has been undergoing a wonderful transformation with a beach promenade, revegatation programme, increased security and a tighter rein on litter. Local resident Richard Cousens, who took these photographers of Durban beachfront at dawn says “the best thing that […]

Mango Groove has been forced to cancel their forthcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, leaving band members John Leyden “gutted” and Claire Johnston “disappointed beyond words”. Leyden, guitarist and founder of the South African band, said: “What can I say? We are gutted. We have been looking forward to this tour for many months now, […]

The other day I wrote a piece explaining why I had voted for Agang SA’s Mamphela Ramphele, and why I was glad for having done so despite her party’s poor showing in the polls. I argued that small parties can do good work and that somebody of her calibre could play a meaningful role in South African politics. […]

The following blog post, written by TGIF’s Thorsten Marbach, was shared by a few of his friends on Facebook yesterday. It’s a message for all South Africans. Thorsten,  a thought-leader who talks every Friday at a Seattle coffee shop in Johannesburg, wrote: With the elections over, do we settle down to outsourcing the leadership of our nation […]

A semi-retired South African expat has stepped up to become an unlikely hero in the Ukraine where he is working tirelessly to rescue thousands of zoo animals – affected by the revolution – from starving to death. Lionel de Lange (48), who has lived in the Ukraine since 2006 and still has a business in South […]