Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has extended the validity period of legally issued visas or asylum permits, which expired during the lockdown period, to 31 December 2021. In a statement on Thursday, Home Affairs announced that the Minister has also approved the resumption of Identity Document (ID) and passport applications. Directions communicating these amendments, […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday night announced that the Department of Health will soon roll out the vaccine certificate as proof that residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19. He also revealed that he has discussed South Africa’s ongoing inclusion on the dreaded Red List with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In a televised address to […]

Following meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council and the President’s Coordinating Council, the SA Cabinet has – to the joy of many South Africans – moved the country from Adjusted Alert Level 2 to Adjusted Alert Level 1 from midnight tonight (Thurs/Fri). President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the news during a ‘family meeting’ on Thursday […]

Itumeleng Phiri started a recycling business on the site, then a food garden. By Masego Mafata…   A mother of four in Tembisa started a recycling project and food garden on a field previously used as an illegal dump site near her house. The project started as a way for Itumeleng Phiri to provide for […]

Team South Africa has already bagged its first medal of the ICF World Marathon Championships on the Arges River in Romania. As racing began on Thursday morning with the Junior Girls K1, SA teenager Saskia Hockly finished third in the opening event, earning a bronze medal for her country. The 17-year-old Durban schoolgirl is a […]

US-based South African expat Trevor Noah has donated R8-million to a project back home, in response to pressing issues surrounding impoverished communities throughout South Africa. The donation was made on behalf of The Trevor Noah Foundation and in partnership with YouthBuild South Africa (YBSA). One of the issues the funds will address is the shortage […]

Want to know about vaccine rollouts in Africa? Click on a country here and find out… by Catherine Kyobutungi, African Population and Health Research Center There has been a lot of focus on COVID-19 vaccine inequalities between high-income and low- and middle-income countries. For instance, it is estimated that up to 70% of all vaccines […]

Residents in Gauteng are being urged to remember to get their second Covid-19 jab! It turns out that more than a MILLION people in the South African province have not returned to receive the second dose of their Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine! Speaking at a pop-up vaccine site in the West Rand on Wednesday, Gauteng Premier […]

Sensei Mandla Nkonde uses some of the money he makes from recycling to keep the karate academy afloat… By Masego Mafata. A reclaimer from Soweto in Johannesburg runs a karate academy for children in his community. Though members pay a small fee, many of his students cannot afford the fee or costs to participate in […]

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s authorisation for the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) report into Digital Vibes to be released today, the DA has called on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to pursue criminal investigations and prosecutions against South Africa’s former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. In fact the opposition party called for all Department of Health […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says passing a time-bound targeted Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver, as proposed by South Africa and India and now supported by many countries around the world, is urgent if the world is to save millions of lives. Addressing the opening of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum – […]

Three young women were killed execution-style in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, last night. Residents say they heard gunshots just after 20h00 on Monday evening. A few minutes after the gunshots were heard by residents of the TT Block informal settlement, “the bodies of young women aged 17, 20 and 21 were discovered in a passage between […]

Three spear fishermen have recounted their terrifying ordeal escaping from an ‘aggressive’ Leopard seal while spearfishing in False Bay. Following the harrowing incident in which the men found themselves fighting for their lives, the NSRI has appealed to everyone who visits the ocean – spear fishermen, divers, paddlers, bathers and surfers – to be cautious […]

The United Kingdom says it will consider Covid-related data provided by the South African government’s scientists in its next review of the dreaded Red List of countries, which will be updated within 14 days. According to the Health Department, SA government experts had a meeting with their UK counterparts over the red list of what […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain put the army on standby to deliver fuel from Tuesday after an acute shortage of truckers triggered panic buying that left fuel pumps dry across the land and raised fears that hospitals would be left without doctors and nurses. Queues of drivers snaked back from those petrol stations that were still […]

Twenty-one percent of South Africa’s adult population is now fully vaccinated after 6 187 people either received a Johnson & Johnson shot or the second jab of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday. According to the Health Department, South Africa administered 9 419 jabs in the past 24 hours, pushing the total to 16 827 790, […]

International World Rabies Day is on the 28th of September and the Mdzananda Animal Clinic, Khayelitsha, aims to vaccinate 1000 dogs in one day. This is after the recent identification of rabies-infected dogs in the Khayelitsha area, the first since 1994 in the Western Cape. What is Rabies? Rabies is a deadly virus that can […]

The manager of a popular restaurant in White River, Mpumalanga – Picasso’s Mexican Taqueria – has been in critical condition in ICU after suffering serious injuries in a car crash on Wednesday night. This evening, Kelly van de Merwe’s family called for prayers as she was urgently rushed to surgery following a sudden blockage causing […]

Tributes have poured in for South African writer and director Franz Marx, who passed away this morning at the age of 78. He was most famous for creating the Egoli TV show, a soapie about 3 families in Gauteng, which gripped South Africans from the moment it first aired in 1992 until it ended in […]

“My journey in the Water has taken me to places I never thought possible, exploring in ways I never thought possible… as a Black girl, as a Zulu girl, as someone who doesn’t come from Wealth, I remain in awe daily, of the things that happen… when we lean in, enjoy ???‍♀️” says Zandile Ndlovu… […]

Two South African restaurants – both in Cape Town in the Western Cape province – have been listed in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ extended list of 51 to 100. The announcement was made on Thursday, ahead of the Top 50 being revealed on 5 October… which will hopefully also include a couple more SA […]

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as well as France’s President Emmanuel Macron, called for more vaccines for Africa while speaking during the Global Citizens Festival on Saturday 25 September. Harry and Meghan, on stage in New York, also gave their support for the waiving of intellectual property (IP) rights around the production of Covid-19 vaccines […]

Global Citizen Live – the global moment of unity in the mission to defend the planet and defeat poverty – is taking place right now. Watch the live video stream below. It’s just moved from Paris (Ed Sheeran rocked it!) to New York City. The once-in-a-generation 24-hour Global Citizen Live broadcast is coming from six […]

A motorist was arrested in the Kruger National Park last night “for having run over a cheetah”, according to the South African National Parks (SANParks) which said the accident occurred near Punda Maria, in the northern park of the Kruger. “Details are still sketchy at this stage as to what exactly happened but Vlakteplaas Rangers […]

As South Africa celebrates Heritage Month, the country’s motorsports phenomenon – Spinning – is making international headlines for being a sport like nothing most people have ever seen. Red Bull calls it a battle of “drifting meets dance” and its become the biggest motorsport in Africa. Squealing rubber, raging engines, dizzying revs and enough smoke […]