T-shirts, closed-toe shoes and crop bottoms were the buzz words on South African social media today, after the Minister of Trade Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, released a bizarre and inexplicable list of clothing you can and cannot buy under Level 4 lockdown regulations. “Bizarre,” “Kafkaesque,” “mad,” “Soviet-type regulations,” “petty,” “monumental embarrassment,” “a mockery,” “East […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address South Africa tonight at 8.30 p.m. about the ongoing measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, almost three weeks since he made his last appearance before the camera. “20 days later!” the DA’s shadow minister for trade and industry tweeted after the announcement today. Many other world leaders have appeared […]

It’s day eleven seventy thousand, and the lockdown categories have changed. So a re-write is about as overdue as a presidential address, and your wax appointment… writes Kim Nicola Stephens (a Cape Town mom of three, and Sport & outdoor communication consultant). Middle class South Africa in Lockdown Level Four can now be categorised as […]

South Africans are today mourning the passing of eNCA’s top cameraman, Lungile Tom, who died this morning (Wed 13 May) due to Covid-19 related illness. It’s the second high-profile death this week, bringing the stories behind the statistics closer to home. The ANC in Parliament said on Wednesday that it had learnt the news of […]

A UK newspaper has rated South Africa’s ‘Moffie’ as one of the best films so far this year. Following the movie’s successful digital launch in South Africa, Moffie was released for streaming on Curzon Home Cinema in the UK at the end of last month… where is was met with an overwhelming positive critical response […]

A UK newspaper yesterday incorrectly implied that a South African pangolin was the “host” of Covid-19 and carried the disease from SA to Wuhan, China. Following the publication of the online story in the UK’s Daily Express newspaper (11 May), Humane Society International-Africa has released a statement clarifying what it calls the “misleading nature” of […]

Thieves who broke into a mortuary in South Africa during the country’s nationwide alcohol sales ban are feared to have stolen litres of exhumation fluid to consume. SA is into its seventh week of coronavirus lockdown and one of the most controversial restrictions has been the total prohibition of buying or selling any type of […]

In a bid to alleviate the burden on indigent households during the COVID-19 pandemic, Eskom is reminding qualifying members that they should apply for the free electricity they are entitled to, despite the fact that at least 200,000 households who have already qualified are not using it. Eskom today launched a campaign to raise awareness […]

Deeds offices across the country will reopen on Wednesday 13 May under strict guidelines, with only conveyancers allowed in the buildings, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has announced. All services would be available and all lodgements accepted, but only conveyancers would be allowed to enter the building, and in big offices […]

In celebration of Africa Day, 25 May, Mall of Africa will be having a virtual concert, “Sessions for Africa Day,” that will include Toya Delazy, Zolani Mahola and Lira. Starting from 7 p.m., the listen-from-home concert is free of charge, Mall of Africa said, but viewers can donate towards supporting local artists and the Attacq […]

This is an URGENT APPEAL for help… writes Sadhana (Sharon Ryan). [UPDATE 15 May 2020: Light at the end of the tunnel for South Africans stranded in India.] We are over 250 South Africans stranded all over India, since Lockdown started on 24 March, with no repatriation plans in sight yet by the South African […]

Following a video going viral of KwaDukuza municipality peace officers allegedly trying to take a screaming four-year-old child out of a Chaka’s Rock complex while his father tries to pull him from them on Sunday morning, The Courier’s Penny Fourie spoke to Paul* (37) – one of the men who was arrested – who captured the […]

The Unemployment Insurance Fund has  paid out R11 billion in benefits to over two million employees affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the past month. A total of 161,567 companies launched claims on behalf of their workers over the course of the last month. The funds were disbursed through the COVID-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief […]

An investigation is reportedly underway in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, after a video went viral on Monday showing two officers entering a property where they grab a young child and lead him away. (Watch below.) The young boy can be heard crying as an adult male, believed to be his dad, races to his rescue and […]

“If we continue like this the virus is going to kill us.” Shopper Zimasa Nkuhlu is worried that other customers at the Nyanga Junction Mall in Philippi in Cape Town are not respecting social distancing rules or wearing masks. She told GroundUp many people did not take the risk of Covid-19 seriously because when the […]

The Eastern Cape Department of Health has bowed to pressure by unions to shut down Zwide Clinic in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The closure on Monday morning comes after the death of a nurse a few weeks ago and 11 staff members testing positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. Staff at the clinic have been demanding […]

Appeals against plans for a huge new wind farm on the West Coast have been dismissed by environment minister Barbara Creecy, paving the way for the addition of up to 140 megawatts of renewable energy into the national grid. John Yeld reports. This is the Juno Wind Energy Facility, planned for a farm in the […]

The South African government seems to have gone from an absence of data coupled to a firm but sensible strategy of lockdown to delay the pain of COVID-19, to a multitude of inputs and a seemingly cavalier attitude to the restrictions. Statistics South Africa has submitted data on how the pandemic has devastated the country’s […]

While the South African government plans to steadily reduce the COVID-19 alert level by stabilising infection and anticipating the inevitable increase in cases, President Ramaphosa has warned the virus might be around for another year. South Africa moved to Level 4 of the national lockdown on 1 May. The lockdown is aimed at curbing the […]

South Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen to 10 015. Regrettably, the Health Department has reported eight more COVID-19 related deaths: 3 from the Western Cape, 1 from the Eastern Cape, and 4 from Gauteng. This brings the total national deaths to 194. “We wish to express our condolences to the loved ones of the […]

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting worried… writes Alan Knott-Craig. The Corona-virus lockdown is getting me down. It’s getting me depressed. It’s making me a bit scared. It’s not the curfew, or the lack of exercise, or too much time in a confined space with my family, or the alcohol & cigarette ban, […]

“Government must force our employers to pay us our wages or register us for UIF so we can claim because we didn’t create this virus and now we are suffering,” says Vaidah Sande, a domestic worker in Johannesburg. Sande has lived and worked in South Africa intermittently since 2004. She has worked for her current […]

Today saw violent protests erupt in Shallcross, Durban, as food parcels were again not delivered… writes photojournalist Kierran Allen. As I have said before… people are hungry, desperate and will take drastic measures to get what they want, or – should I say – what they have been promised! Forty-five days have passed in this […]

Helium gas, it turns out, isn’t just for blowing up balloons and making friends laugh with a squeaky voice. It’s actually critical in life-saving industries. And just when world supplies of the non-renewable gas were dwindling – and the need for helium increasing – two South Africans made a miraculous discovery in the Free State. […]

In gratitude to the many South African soldiers who are women – and who will be unable to celebrate Mother’s Day with their children today – a women’s veteran’s organisation handed out female hygiene parcels to over 300 female soldiers on Friday. Former Umkhonto weSizwe and SA National Defence Force (SANDF) member, Granny Seape, said […]