Once famous in international horse-racing circles and for his parties and mixing in famous circles in the Swinging Sixties, Sir William Pigott-Brown, 79, has died in a nursing home in Cape Town, where he chose to spend out his years living in Clifton. His country estate at Aston Tirrold in Oxfordshire, was, according to the […]

The Western Cape needs about 30,000 beds as the number of Coronavirus infections in the province is expected to continue to surge, it was announced today when President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the 850-bed Hospital of Hope at the CTICC. Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, who was on the visit with Ramaphosa and Western Cape Premier […]

South Africans who have been stranded abroad for months were finally – and with great relief – set to return home today from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on a TUI Airlines flight… however, at the last minute they have been informed that the flight is not cleared to land in South Africa! A few days ago, […]

Diligent detective work by the Protected Resources Division (PRD) of the Namibian Police, has led to more poaching charges being registered against well known Prophet Jackson Babi… writes Niël Terblanché from Informante. Prophet Babi, the founder of the House of Joy Ministries, is currently in police custody in Namibia, on poaching charges that stem from […]

To take the shortest route to the shops and to school, shack dwellers of Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement in Soweto had to cross a deep gully with a polluted stream. Although only a few metres wide it could be treacherous. In the summer rains, it was prone to flooding. People fell and had to have […]

Everyday Lauren* breaks her isolation to visit the clinic where she undergoes radiotherapy. Cancer patients appear to have a higher risk of dying of Covid-19 if they become infected with the new coronavirus. Lauren has cancer and needs to attend a clinic for radiotherapy. She describes the measures the clinic has taken because of the […]

An urgent intervention and investigation of a Durban quarantine facility is being sought by both the DA and AfriForum to resolve what the opposition party calls an “untenable situation”. About 160 to 200 South Africans are currently being quarantined in Durban hotel, Coastlands… which they claim is dirty and unsafe, and where they are allegedly […]

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday be in Cape Town to assess the Western Cape’s provincial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Western Cape is currently the country’s epicentre accounting for nearly two-thirds of infections nationally. As of Thursday, the Western Cape had 27 006 out of the 40 792 COVID-19 infections reported […]

There are now 40,792 confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa as of 4 June 2020, according to the Department of Health. This is an increase of 3,267 cases in the past 24 hours. Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said: “As of today, the cumulative number of confirmed #COVID19 is 40 792, the total number of […]

A sudden landslide in the north of Norway caused eight homes to be washed into the sea on Wednesday 3 June. The incredible scene was captured on film by Jan Egil Bakkeby, a resident of Alta, who had just finished making a couple of sandwiches when he heard the noise, which sounded like creaking. “At […]

In a predawn raid, the SA Police Service arrested eight senior officers, including a former lieutenant-general, as well as six company executives on charges of corruption and fraud. In a statement today the police said the arrests by the Anti-Corruption Task Team – backed by a prosecution team of the National Prosecuting Authority under Hermione […]

The rand strengthened to below R17 to the US dollar today, for the first time in almost 11 weeks, after suffering record lows in April, when it went over R19. It was trading at about R16.91 late in the day. The currency was close to R14 to the dollar in late December, and was in […]

The lockdown in South Africa has been extended by another month, which means it will run its full 90 days, until 15 July, according to a statement by government today. After a meeting of the cabinet today, the extension was announced by the Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, as was a decision to appeal […]

South African athlete Caster Semenya posted an adorable photo on Thursday afternoon that has everyone guessing: is her wife pregnant and are they expecting a baby? The photo shows what looks like Caster’s feet in takkies, with two little baby shoes in the middle being held by Caster’s hands. The South African double Olympic champion, […]

A plea has gone up for donations to help bring back to health a jackal that was close to death’s door after being held in a Bloemfontein petting zoo. “It is those two big pleading eyes that kept me up at night. Pleading for escape, pleading for relief of unimaginable pain, pleading for help!” said […]

With lockdown leaving many families in South Africa destitute without the means to earn an income and provide for their families, South Africans all over the land have stepped up to find a way to create vegetable gardens, soup kitchens and other ways to help feed those who may otherwise starve. And for those who […]

Pleas for DIRCO to help South Africans stranded abroad, or stuck in SA with jobs abroad, have increased as many run out of money, medicine and hope. The DA today issued a call for Dirco to liaise better with embassies in helping get citizens home; and AfriForum this morning issued urgent court papers in an […]

South Africa’s government is proud that its response to Covid-19 relies on science. It might be prouder if it was also guided by knowledge of how society works. When South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown began on 27 March, opposition from some quarters was inevitable. What was not expected was that the most vehement resistance would be […]

Wondering what to stream on these long nights in? Try these new series, movies and documentaries from Showmax. There are Hollywood highlights, some British gems and top local fare to keep you warm inside.   International Series Motherland: Fort Salem S1 Fantasy drama Motherland: Fort Salem is set in an alternate America where witches ended […]

“We want to love the police, but they don’t want to love or respect us”, “Black Lives Matter” and ”Refugee Lives Matter” read some of the placards laid on the ground outside Parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday. Small groups of people trickled past to place flowers and banners in a show of solidarity against […]

The number of confirmed COVID-19 in South Africa is 37 525, while the death toll has spiked to 792. Almost 80% are in the Western and Eastern Cape Out of the 37 recorded deaths on Wednesday, 29 are in the Western Cape, seven in the Eastern Cape and one in KwaZulu-Natal. On Tuesday, 50 people […]

Two communal vegetable gardens have made a big difference to life in Khenana informal settlement in Durban, where residents have used the money from sales of spinach and cabbage to buy masks, gloves and sanitisers for everyone during the Covid-19 pandemic. The first garden in the settlement in Cato Crest was started in June last […]

Two South African airlines, Airlink and FlySafair, will start flying again over the next two weeks, with Mango also possibly joining them. Airlink said it would launch a limited scheduled domestic air service from 8 June, with flights on the Johannesburg-Cape Town and Johannesburg-Durban trunk routes, using 98-seat Embraer E190 regional jets. According to the […]

The South African History Archive Trust has won an important victory for the constitutional right of access to information in the Supreme Court of Appeal. In a unanimous judgment, the court found that the Reserve Bank had unlawfully refused to provide SAHA with records in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). […]

The Zondo commission of enquiry into state capture will resume hearings later this month or early in July, according to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. The commission itself would resume work next week. During a virtual briefing today, after the commission suspended work during the lockdown, Zondo said, “With the cooperation of the executive there […]