On 24 October, Cape Town will host the 2020 Miss South Africa contest, the first time the event has been held in the Mother City. The top 10 finalists were revealed on 5 August (see the video below). The venue in Cape Town still has to be announced. Miss South Africa organisers said the event […]

Tributes have poured in for a young safari field guide, Sheldon Hooper (27) who has tragically been killed by an elephant in a luxury private game reserve adjacent to South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park. The devastating incident took place at Thornybush River Lodge on Tuesday morning. According to local reports Sheldon and a colleague […]

A public forum has been launched to get taxi operators, drivers and civil society to engage with government on a plan to regulate the taxi industry. Taxis often come in for much criticism for disobeying the rules of the road, unlicensed drivers, and violence. So there will be lots to talk about from the public’s […]

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has recently revealed the racial divide in COVID-19 deaths, with Blacks and Coloureds more likely to succumb to the disease in South Africa. “Race is for the first time reported to have an association with in-hospital mortality, with a higher risk of mortality in individuals who were Black […]

Lots of hospitals have been posting their staff doing the #JerusalemaChallenge – a great way to keep spirits up – but the latest, from Western Cape’s Red Cross War Memorial Hospital, is one of the best. Red Cross Hospital: [MUST WATCH] The team at the Red Cross War Memorial Childrens Hospital doing the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge! 👏🏼 […]

Eskom are once again implementing stage 2 load shedding in South Africa – it kicked off at 9am this morning and is due to last until 10pm this evening… as the power grid remains constrained. “While Eskom teams have today and yesterday successfully returned three-generation units to service, a further three units tripped, two of […]

Taxi drivers, truck drivers and motorists complain that the R61 connecting Flagstaff and Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape of South Africa is potholed and getting worse. With potholes on both lanes, motorists say it is like manoeuvring through a minefield Two unemployed young men saw an opportunity in this. They started filling the potholes and […]

Virgin Active announced today that it would open at 5 a.m. on Monday, 24 August. However, this still depends on the government releasing gym protocols before then. Virgin said that although other gyms had opened already, it was waiting for the protocols from government. The opening of gyms was announced as part of moving to […]

Despite promises by Cyril Ramaphosa to run a clean administration and a statement by the African National Congress that it is embarrassed by corruption, the former mayor of Durban, who was sacked from the position by the ANC a year ago and is facing corruption charges, is the latest tainted official to be reappointed into […]

A lekker new South African restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, has been opened “in loving memory of our old President Mr Mandela”. The fast food restaurant – Madibaz – was launched on Nelson Mandela’s birthday, 18 July, and is aptly called Madibaz! The South African Ambassador in Thailand, Geoff Doidge, performed the honours to officially open […]

Every day, Zwelakhe Mnomiya from Gqamu in KwaZulu-Natal walks about 20km to and from school. The grade 11 learner is among dozens of children who make the journey on foot to Gcotoi High School in rural Kranskop. According to Gcotoi High, more than 100 learners walk between 11 and 20 km to and from school […]

The stranding of the MV Wakashio is one of the biggest environmental disasters in the history of the western Indian Ocean. While the full scale of the disaster is not yet known, the 1,000 tons of oil and diesel that leaked close to one of the greatest marine treasures of Mauritius threatens to destroy this […]

Western Cape photographer Nigel Riley captured these amazing photos of huge waves hitting Harbour House restaurant in Kalk Bay, South Africa, today. The South African Weather Service (SAWS) had predicted that the Cold Front, which arrived in the region yesterday, would bring strong winds and big waves of up to 6 metres today… but nobody […]

The exciting annual Encounters South African International Documentary Festival is happening again this year, but for the first time you can watch it from the comfort of home, and all the 50 films are free (with the option of a donation). It runs 20-30 August. Many incredible award-winning docs from around the world will be […]

Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, how well has South Africa done at limiting infections, and how big a deal is the pandemic anyway? To answer that, we need to think about how the data actually works and doesn’t work. We are not 5th worst Dashboards like Bing and Worldometer report that South Africa has the fifth-highest number […]

A COVID donation of medical material and personal protection equipment from the French government arrived in South Africa today. The donation consists of single-channel infusion pumps, material for intensive care units and medical isolation gowns, worth a total of R 1,8 million, according to a post by the French Embassy on Twitter. “France stands with […]

A protest against farm murders is taking place in Mookgophong, Limpopo today in response to the spike in farm murders in the region and to farm attacks nationwide in South Africa; and coinciding with the appearance in court today of suspects in the murder of ‘Oom’ Alwyn van Zyl (79), who was brutally murdered on […]

As predicted by the South African Weather Service, the cold front that made landfall on Monday afternoon in the SW Cape has moved over larger parts of South and Southern Africa in the past 12 hours. Here snow can be seen falling this morning in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. #snow in Queenstown. EC at […]

South Africans are reeling today after the tragic death of  six children and three adults in what was meant to be a happy family get-away near Kgalagadi Trans-Frontier Park. The nine people – including one entire family – perished in a devastating fire at luxurious Blinkwater Lodge in the Northern Cape. All the deceased were […]

With bare hands, residents removed septic tanks from communal chemical toilets, loaded them on shopping trolleys and emptied them at the exit of N7 at Dunoon, near Milnerton, CapeTown, on Sunday. The residents from Ekuphumuleni informal settlement have not had their toilets cleaned for three weeks after they stopped a newly appointed contractor, Sanitech, from […]

It’s been bitterly cold in Cape Town today with howling winds… and perhaps even snow. A video is going viral on WhatsApp showing people on Table Mountain picking up snow from the pathway. Watch below. (Update: watch snow in South Africa and Lesotho today, 18 August 2020.) The guy filming what seems like snow can […]

Questions have been raised about the suicide in custody on Sunday of one of two men arrested in connection with the murder of five women in Mthwalume in KwaZulu-Natal, after he told police there were more bodies to be found. The Democratic Alliance has called for an investigation. The two men, aged 35 and 40, […]

The sound of Thandeka Ngobeni crying could be heard in the background despite the loud clunking and banging noises as shacks around her were being demolished on Monday morning in Gauteng, South Africa. The attempts by dozens of families to occupy land near the Heidelberg highway in Tsakane’s extension 11 were stopped on Monday. The […]

With South Africa moving to alert level 2 at midnight, President Cyril Ramaphosa has cautioned South Africans against letting their guard down by not observing COVID-19 health and safety protocols. South Africa moves to level 2 of the lockdown at midnight, in a move that will see many restrictions lifted. “With this comes increased risk […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his heartfelt condolences following the passing of anti-apartheid activist Paul David who passed away on Thursday, 13 August 2020, at the age of 79. “The passing of Paul David as the last member of the Consulate Six is a great loss to our country and especially to the people of […]