Not everyone’s impressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Saturday evening, in his address to the nation, that South Africa will move into Lockdown Level 2 with many regulations relaxed, including a lift on the ban on cigarettes and alcohol, and the opening of borders for inter-provincial travel. While some rejoiced – and looked forward […]

Following one of the longest lockdowns in the world, South Africans are rejoicing after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced tonight the country is moving to Lockdown Level 2 on Monday at midnight, removing nearly all restrictions. This means that economic activity can resume. The bans on the sale of tobacco and alcohol are lifted, and liquor […]

An increasing trend recently has been the sight of South Africa receiving aid and services from other countries, most of it free, but at least once paid for. A country that should be delivering help to the rest of the continent and further afield is now the one needing assistance. Germany – Technical experts  On […]

South African golfing legend Gary Player has revealed that his beloved wive Vivienne is recovering from pancreatic cancer. Gary did not give details about when and how Vivienne was diagnosed, but said it had been a “massive shock” to him and their family. (Recently Gary and his eldest son were embroiled in a legal dispute […]

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs – Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma – has today signed an extension to the already extended National State of Disaster (Covid-19). The State of Disaster was due to end today, but has now been extended a further month to 15 September 2020. According to the Government Notice 765 published in […]

To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle and Martin Luther King, it takes a crisis to show the mettle of a true leader. And if anyone in South Africa has proved that over and over again during the past five months, it would be Western Cape Premier Alan Winde. Inasmuch as Cyril Ramaphosa has […]

Former DA Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, has announced that his new political party will be launched on 29 August… while former DA Leader Mmusi Maimane has also spoken out about the new kind of leadership required in South Africa. Maimane, who now leads One South Africa Movement – a grassroots activist movement aiming to unite a […]

The predation of livestock by carnivores, and the retaliatory killing of carnivores as a result, is a major global conservation challenge. Such human-wildlife conflicts are a key driver of large carnivore declines and the costs of coexistence are often disproportionately borne by rural communities in the global south. While current approaches tend to focus on […]

Naked Wines has launched an exclusive case to raise over £225,000 to support  South African winemakers affected by the strict ban on domestic alcohol sales. The online wine retailer launched the online crowdfunding event this week – to raise funds for South African winemakers impacted by Covid restrictions in the country The South African wine […]

As the number of positive cases of COVID in the Western Cape continue to decline – faster than in the rest of the country – the local government is closing down its field hospital at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, which was built in June and was Africa’s biggest COVID field hospital. “Due to […]

Several weeks ago, the hashtag #ANCFriday started appearing on Twitter, with people being encouraged to post heart signs in green, black and gold in their tweets, the colours of the African National Congress. Within a few hours a backlash was triggered, under the hashtag #VoetsekANC. And each Friday since then, it has trended higher and […]

The Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, recently announced a further extension of visas for foreign nationals in South Africa. However, in the words of the Democratic Alliance (DA), he has “bizarrely refused” to make any provision for South Africans abroad whose passports will expire as a result of the extended lockdown. The DA is […]

Watch Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi trying to teach his wife Rachel how to dance to DJ Mata’s Bhenga Span. You can see him telling her at one stage to “relax”. Siya posted the video yesterday saying: “Caption this please! ?” His fans are loving it – many relating to Rachel, and most commenting on how […]

Social media has been going crazy in the past 24 hours, sharing a video of what is said to be a fireworks display for the Tokyo Olympics in Japan. The message – copied and pasted by most people – announces very movingly that since the Olympics had to be postponed to 2021 because of the […]

It’s the South African song that’s taken the world by storm – Master KG’s Jerusalema, featuring Nomcebo Zikode – with groups of people from Australia to Brazil, Denmark to Dubai – taking on the Jerusalema dance challenge… but probably nobody does it better than these kids! The Masaka Kids Africana have proved again, they have […]

Talk Radio Station 702 has today announced that it will be bidding farewell to well-known radio presenter, Joanne Joseph – who hosts The Afternoon Drive – on 28 August. Joanne joined 702 in May 2018, returning to her radio roots after a number of years hosting TV news shows with the SABC and eNCA, 702 […]

Police in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have cautioned community members of Umthwalume to not walk alone, nor be lured anywhere by strangers… as fears grow that a serial killer is on the loose in the area, after another two bodies were discovered this week. Five decomposed bodies of young women – including two sisters – have […]

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) says there are hopeful signs that the Coronavirus pandemic may have reached its peak in all the provinces by the end of July 2020. This comes as welcome news to South Africans who are praying, crossing fingers and holding thumbs that Ramaphosa will announce soon – now now […]

A former fastfood delivery man appeared in Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court, Mpumalanga, on Wednesday after complaints were received from clients who had noticed extra charges on their bank accounts after paying him for their orders. The suspect was found with an illegal point of sale device and more than R120,000 in cash. Patrick Kananga Mukandila, described […]

Members of the South African cabinet and their deputies have taken more than one trip overseas every day for the past two years – that’s 949 trips, to be exact – in the 912 days since Cyril Ramaphosa became president in February 2018. All have been funded by the taxpayer. The worst offenders were Lindiwe […]

The African National Congress is allegedly planning to start a “sweetheart” union for the tourism sector sanctioned by Luthuli House and favourable to the ANC, to serve as the official voice of the tourism industry, an industry whistleblower has told the Democratic Alliance. The DA said it had been advised that the ANC planned to […]

StreetSmart South Africa usually raises R1 million a year to feed street children. This year the organisation expects to raise only raise half as much. StreetSmart is funded mostly through voluntary add-ons to hotel and restaurant bills (usually R5 a table). It had about 100 participating establishments. Charities funded via the hospitality industry are an […]

South Africa has once again been plunged into darkness on Thursday morning when stage 2 load shedding was implemented countrywide due to the delay to return five generation units to service and a further two units went offline. Some will be experiencing their loadshedding later today. Eskom has issued warnings of a “severely constrained” power system and […]

WESTERN CAPE – Police in Kraaifontein, South Africa, are seeking the assistance of the public to trace 22-year-old Sindiswa Rum who was last seen on Tuesday morning leaving the Nyanga police station where she is employed as a constable. UPDATE Thursday 13 Aug: SAPS says that “the missing Sindiswa Rum has been found late last […]

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s despatch of envoys to Zimbabwe in a bid to defuse the latest crisis, in which the government has engaged in a vicious crackdown on opponents, journalists and the freedoms of speech, association and protest, has been widely welcomed. Such has been the brutality of the latest assault on human rights […]