At simultaneous press conferences around the world on Thursday (12 May), including at the Wits Planetarium at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, astronomers have unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. This means we now have overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed […]

On May 12, 2022, astronomers on the Event Horizon Telescope team released an image of a black hole called Sagittarius A* that lies at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Chris Impey, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, explains how the team (which included two scientists from Wits!) got this image and why […]

A film about a unique journey from Morocco to South Africa – called ‘Africa and I’ – could be in line for an Oscar, after scooping the award for Best First Feature Documentary at the 30th Anniversary Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in Los Angeles. PAFF is an official qualifying film festival for the Academy Awards! […]

67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day had its big Rainbow Nation Blanket of Hope reveal today at Steyn City School in Gauteng… and it sure was BIG. Thanks to just over 4,500 pieces of fabric woven with love by volunteer ‘KnitWits’ around South Africa, and donated in solidarity, the South African NGO today deployed a […]

A 228.31-carat white diamond called ‘The Rock’ – that was discovered in South Africa 20 years ago – has sold for a whopping $21.8-million at a Christies auction in Geneva, Switzerland, today (Wednesday, 11 May 2022). The Rock is the largest white diamond ever seen throughout auction market history. The white gemstone was mined and […]

Yesterday was very exciting, writes Bron Kotze, owner of Mlondozi Self-catering Chalet in Malelane, near the Kruger border. After having followed the news on the Elephants Alive Facebook page, of a group of elephants that were making their way north from Mozambique (over 700kms!), I was delighted to hear yesterday morning that they had reached […]

A group of 11 elephant bulls in Southern Africa – apparently led by an elephant nicknamed Trail Blazer – have journeyed over 700km from Mozambique to reach the Kruger National Park, Trailblazer’s original home. Thanks to Trail Blazer’s tracking collar, their journey has been monitored to ensure as much safety as possible, although sadly it […]

The City of Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, has launched a KwaZulu-Natal disaster relief initiative in an effort to assist families in KZN affected by the recent devastating floods in that province. In a statement, the city of Ekurhuleni said the initiative followed Cabinet’s decision to declare a National State of Disaster in response to the floods, which have […]

South African filmmaker and comedian Leon Schuster has shared a moving revelation of what he witnessed in the final hours before his beloved mother, Jessica Schuster, sadly passed away on Mother’s Day, Sunday 8 May, at the age of 100. Leon said the experience reawakened a faith within him, and brought him “back to God’s […]

In a press statement, shared by the SABC, the Protea cricket team’s coach, Mark Boucher, has welcomed Cricket South Africa’s (CSA’s) decision to drop all charges against him after two key witnesses declined to testify. The full statement by Mark Boucher reads: “I welcome the decision of CSA to unreservedly withdraw all charges against me. […]

JOHANNESBURG: Cricket South Africa (CSA) has formally and unreservedly withdrawn all charges against Proteas coach Mark Boucher, after concluding that there is no basis to sustain any of the disciplinary charges, including charges of racism. Pholetsi Moseki, the CEO of CSA says: “CSA appreciates that it has been very difficult for Mark to deal with […]

Following the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a young learner at Highbury Preparatory School in Hillcrest, is helping make the world a better place for some of the other children in his province who were affected by the disaster. In the words of Project Hope (a KZN-based NPO that helps vulnerable children and their […]

Four massive male lions – including a white one – caused a massive traffic jam in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Watch below. It has to be the coolest traffic jam ever… as the four lions stroll down the middle of the road, heads held high with total confidence and disregard for the waiting […]

KYIV (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented Ukraine’s famous mine sniffing dog Patron, and his owner, with a medal on Sunday to recognise their dedicated service since Russia’s invasion. The pint-size Jack Russell terrier has been credited with detecting more than 200 explosives and preventing their detonation since the start of the war on Feb. […]

Chad le Clos has been included in the team to represent South Africa at the FINA World Championships for a seventh time. Swimming South Africa announced the squad that will compete at the event in Budapest from 18 June to 3 July 2022 with Le Clos leading the charge along with several young guns who […]

“Children and gardens both need love to flourish”. By Siphokazi Mnyobe. After the death of her lastborn son Granville, says Iris Telmaggiers, the vegetable gardening project in her street in Hornlee, Knysna, was the only thing that could ease her pain. Telmaggiers lost her son in November 2021, and had been struggling to get out of […]

Visitors to South Africa’s legendary Kruger National Park will be pleased to hear that SA National Parks (SANParks) has announced the start of a R370 million upgrading and refurbishment infrastructure programme in the Kruger over the next three years. Several Kruger tourists, particularly locals who are regular visitors, have complained on Kruger forums about the […]

Tesla CEO and new Twitter owner Elon Musk took part in a live stream Tesla / Twitter event on Sunday 8 May, together with Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood and Jack Dorsey who is co-founder and former CEO of Twitter and also founder of financial payments company Block, Inc. Tesla says on its YouTube page: […]

The Daily Show host, South African expat Trevor Noah, has voiced the concern of many about the ‘billionaire games’ that the super wealthy, like fellow SA expat Elon Musk, play with the stock market. Watch below. The Daily Show, which has almost 10 million subscribers on YouTube, said “Trevor’s no finance expert, but the details […]

South African TikTok user Sami Hall, from Gauteng, has produced a video that’s gone viral, showing actress Amber Heard how to cry better for the court and the cameras. Watch below. Heard was testifying this week in ex-husband Johnny Depp’s defamation trial, in which he is suing her for $50-million in damages for allegedly falsely […]

Princess Charlene has shared photos to her Instagram account of her second public outing since returning from an unnamed clinic, where she was recuperating after suffering an ENT (ear, nose, throat) infection in South Africa, and subsequent complications from surgery which kept her grounded in SA for several months last year. The Princess returned to […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the launch of a hydrogen-powered truck is a “giant step” in the right direction for South Africa’s budding green hydrogen economy. And there’s one man particularly who’s in the spotlight right now – Alex Tumisang Lekgau, Africa’s first and ONLY licensed operator of said hydrogen truck. Alex has risen from a […]

South Africa’s ‘quad squad’ have become the first-ever African team to reach a World Team Cup Final. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), the world governing body of tennis, announced the “historic strikes for South Africa ???” on Thursday 5 May. The South African team – which includes 28-year-old Donald Ramphadi (ranked world number 10 and […]

As they say on Game of Thrones, Winter is Coming… and as Autumn gets well underway and South Africans brace themselves for cooler temperatures, this hilarious video by Lauren Bradley – of a typical South African winter wardrobe – is going viral. As Lauren jokes, in South Africa, “anything below 27 Celsius is winter ?????” […]

As South Africans revel in the pride of Elon Musk being from SA, there’s a brilliant piece going viral about “What America Gained and SA Lost”. But if it feels familiar – it’s because it is. It’s an old article from 2013. That’s why Trevor Noah isn’t included. He only shot to worldwide fame in […]