South Africans are reeling after the shocking news that a six-year-old girl was raped on Saturday in the toilets at a restaurant in Pretoria. The horrific attack occurred at a Dros restaurant in Silverton. The child had been in the play area when she went to the ladies’ toilets. The suspect allegedly grabbed her and […]

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been admitted to a Cape Town hospital for a series of tests. In a statement issued by Tutu’s office, they said: “The Archbishop was in good spirits after settling into his ward. He hopes to be back home in a few days. “The Archbishop turns 87-years-old in 10 days time.” […]

President Cyril Rampahosa has reassured delegates at a business seminar, on the side of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, that “there’s no land grab in South Africa”. (Watch below.) Speaking to Bloomberg during his trip to the US, the South African president also said that President Donald Trump’s tweet about the country’s […]

Contestants from nine countries – including South Africa – are competing in a solar challenge car race from Johannesburg to Cape Town. The 3,000 mile South Africa Solar Challenge features solar powered vehicles that have been designed and built by students from South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and China. Tshwane University student Bongani Malebele told […]

The South African government has encouraged all SA travellers to be alert and sensitive to possible security challenges in areas they are working in or visiting outside of South Africa. The announcement came following the confirmation by the government that a South African national has been kidnapped in Burkina Faso. “Government, through the South African […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Old Mutual Ltd said on Wednesday its shareholders will get R50 billion ($3.50 billion) from the spin-off of a majority of its stake in Nedbank. Old Mutual holds 52 percent of Nedbank and after the spinoff will hold around 19.9 percent, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, […]

PRETORIA – South Africa will ease some immigration rules, including agreeing visa waiver agreements with more countries, in an effort to boost investment and tourism, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba confirmed on Tuesday. As reported by SAPeople a couple of days ago, the changes are part of a broader economic turnaround programme announced by President […]

A male lion that went wandering out of the Kruger National Park this morning has been captured and returned safely to the Kruger. Linda from Our Life in Kruger facebook page said: “Excitement in our area when a lion was spotted on the N4 highway between Komatipoort and Hectorspruit early this morning. “The lion was […]

South Africa’s “nonsensical” Unabridged Birth Certificate (UBC) requirements for the children of foreigners travelling to South Africa is to be relaxed. The regulation, introduced by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba over three years ago has been blamed for a decline in tourism to SA by foreign families who have a choice of other sunny destinations […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed an advisory panel on land reform that will support the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Land Reform, which is chaired by Deputy President David Mabuza. Announcing the appointment on Friday, the Presidency said the panel will advise the IMC on a broad range of policy matters associated with land reform, including […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced, with profound sadness, the passing of Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa. Minister Molewa passed away at a Pretoria hospital today, after a short illness. “I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Minister Edna Molewa as well as to her colleagues in Cabinet and across all […]

Over 500 rhinos were poached for their horns in South Africa in the first eight months of 2018… which while still horrific, is a 26 % drop from the 691 who were slaughtered in the same period last year, the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Friday as it released the latest South African rhino […]

This week’s episode of Carte Blanche, screened on Sunday in South Africa, is available to South Africans abroad from Tuesday 25th September 2018 – if you subscribe to Showmax.This week’s topics include: Hangberg on Edge Missing and presumed dead, small-scale fisherman Durick van Blerk disappeared overboard after a confrontation with anti-poaching police patrol in August. […]

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – More than 100 bodies have been retrieved after a ferry sank on Lake Victoria, Tanzanian state radio reported on Friday, and hundreds more were still feared missing as rescuers searched for survivors from daybreak on the morning after the disaster. Radio TBC Taifa reported the latest toll from the sinking […]

PRETORIA (Reuters) – South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a multi-billion-dollar stimulus programme on Friday, earmarking funds for job creation and infrastructure development as he seeks to make good on a pledge to revive the country’s ailing economy. Speaking a day after the central bank disappointed some in his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Ajay Gupta, one of the business friends of ex-president Jacob Zuma, denied on Thursday making any financial offer to South Africa’s former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas or threatening to have him killed if he ever spoke of the matter. A public inquiry is reviewing allegations that the Gupta brothers – who […]

Over the past year, tourism in Cape Town has suffered as considerate – or concerned – tourists have avoided the Western Cape region during its heavy drought… a drought which made world headlines after Cape Town announced that residential taps would be turned off on ‘Day Zero’. The day fortunately never arrived… as Capetonians worked […]

PRETORIA – South Africa’s central bank left its benchmark repo rate on hold at 6.5 percent on Thursday, in a tight call, with the bank’s governor striking a more hawkish note than at the last rate meeting in July. The rate decision by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) was closely watched after emerging market […]

JOHANNESBURG – A South African man was arrested and will be charged in court for posting a video on social media in which he hurled racial abuse at President Cyril Ramaphosa, police said on Thursday. It was the latest such incident to cause a public outcry in South Africa and shows the racial tensions that […]

Since South Africa’s highest court decided Tuesday to allow the private use of marijuana, these are just some of the jokes and memes that South Africans have been sharing:

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s highest court on Tuesday allowed the private use of marijuana, upholding a lower court’s ruling that found the criminalization of cannabis was unconstitutional. Activists who include members of the Rastafarian movement and traditional healers greeted the ruling with loud applause. They have held marches over the years to demand that […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged on Monday there would be no mass layoffs of public sector workers as the South African government considers various ways to pull the economy out of a recession that has rattled the rand and investor confidence. The economy slipped into recession in the second quarter for […]

An economic stimulus package for South Africa, adopted by Cabinet, is set to spark economic activity and boost the country’s growth, according to the country’s president. President Cyril Ramaphosa shared with South Africa’s business and labour leaders an outline of the economic stimulus package during a consultative meeting on Friday. The meeting in Pretoria was […]

(Reuters) – AfriAg Global Plc has hired a law firm to help with the application process to become a licensed medical cannabis cultivator and producer in the UK, the South African haulier said on Monday. Britain proposed in July to allow doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis starting this year and several countries, including Germany, Italy […]

Capetonians have gathered at the V&A Waterfront harbour, South Africa, to photograph the latest international celebrity to visit the Mother City – the 126,2 metre long Octopus superyacht. Regular SAPeople contributor, Madhuri Kooverjee Chavda, was dockside on Friday to capture the photos on this page. “It was a beautiful afternoon at the V&A Harbour admiring the […]