LUSAKA – Zambia banned an energy drink, which is also sold in South Africa, on Wednesday after it was shown to have been adulterated with the male sex booster Viagra, according to authorities in Ndola, the city of manufacture. The prohibition followed a complaint from Zambia’s medicine regulator in December suggesting that the drink – […]

Raw excrement, condoms and sanitary products regularly spill into homes and parks for many South Africans… who  are just some of about 4.5 billion people globally without safe sanitation, promised for all by 2030. Residents are lobbying for urgent rehabilitation of sewage works by South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation, widely criticised for lack […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Rescue workers plucked more survivors from trees and roofs to safety on Thursday, a week after a cyclone ripped through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. A priority for Thursday was pushing into flooded areas that had not yet been surveyed, […]

As South African news reports “darker days ahead” and “no lights, no water”, it’s time to shed some light – and humour – on SA’s infamous “load shedding” (known to the rest of the world as power cuts). Today South Africans braced themselves for another round of rotational Stage 4 load shedding which will got […]

One of South Africa’s finest wildlife photographers – and international expedition leader – Marlon du Toit was a special guest on Monday evening’s The Tonight Show, starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch below as Marlon, who co-owns Wild Eye, describes safaris in Africa and the story behind some of his exquisite photos… including the plight of the […]

Brave rescue teams from South Africa have saved 167 people using air support in the Buzi district of Mozambique, an area which was particularly hammered by Cyclone Idai over the weekend. But more help is desperately needed as storm victims are still hanging onto poles and trees in flooded areas, in a desperate bid to […]

MAPUTO/HARARE – Cyclone winds and floods that swept across southeastern Africa affected more than 2.6 million people and could rank as one of the worst weather-related disasters recorded in the southern hemisphere, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. Rescue crews are still struggling to reach victims five days after Cyclone Idai raced in at speeds of […]

South Africa’s Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday he cannot say yet when rolling blackouts will end, as power utility Eskom struggles with capacity shortages that threaten to thwart efforts to boost economic growth. Eskom supplies more than 90 percent of the power in South Africa but has suffered repeated faults at its […]

South Africans often complain that SA hardly ever makes international news, but yesterday the country featured prominently in news around the globe for three main reasons: load shedding, Ramaphosa stuck on a train, and a high profile politician arrested for killing a whistle blower. “Chaos across South Africa as blackouts roll into third day” This […]

Former Steinhoff chairman and top shareholder Christo Wiese said on Monday he is open to negotiations over his $4 billion claim against the South African retailer, days after it revealed the scale of devastating accounting fraud. Steinhoff said on Friday that an independent report had found it overstated profits over several years in a $7.4 […]

South Africa’s state utility Eskom will make more power cuts this week as it struggles with capacity shortages that threaten to stymie President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to boost investments and economic growth. Eskom supplies more than 90 percent of the power in South Africa but has suffered repeated faults at its coal-fired power stations, along […]

“I have always prided myself in writing objective and truthful articles” says Tossie Beukes. One of four defamation cases against seven critics of controversial Australian mining company Mineral Commodities (MRC) and its South African operations has been dropped. A linked criminal defamation case against one of the seven has also been withdrawn. The cases, totalling […]

Marlon du Toit, one of South Africa’s finest wildlife photographers – and an International Expedition Leader – will be a guest star on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight in the US. (Expats can watch on NBC on Monday evening, while South Africans back home can watch tomorrow on Comedy Central – see details […]

The loadshedding crisis in South Africa, which has dragged on (and off) for around 11 years is not so much a power failure, say some, as a failure of power. And therefore no joke – of which there are many, it being South Africa and all – captures the ineptitude of those controlling South Africa’s […]

The 13th of March 2019 may have been an ordinary day for most but not for a 35-year-old male patient, who had previously lost his hearing in a car accident. In a pioneering surgical procedure using 3D-printed middle ear bones, developed by Professor Mashudu Tshifularo and his team at the University of Pretoria (UP), the […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African state utility Eskom stepped up rolling blackouts (aka the dreaded load-shedding!) over the weekend as it lost 900 megawatts of electricity imports from neighbouring Mozambique, which was hit this week by a cyclone. Eskom, which generates nearly all of the power for South Africa, said that it had cut 4,000 megawatts, […]

HARARE – Cyclone Idai has killed at least 64 people in eastern Zimbabwe and destroyed homes, bridges and roads, making rescue efforts difficult, a government minister said on Sunday. The tropical storm has already pounded neighboring Malawi and Mozambique where at least 111 people died in floods and heavy rains as the cyclone approached. Mozambique […]

Here’s what’s coming up on Carte Blanche‎ tonight in South Africa (Sunday 17 March 2019), and from Tuesday (19 March) for South Africans living abroad. Stream it here. Limpopo Child Gangs A video showing a group of youngsters kicking and dragging Thoriso Themane emerges, sending shockwaves throughout the country. Themane, a young man from Limpopo, […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) has included two prominent politicians – who were linked to corruption under former President Jacob Zuma – in its list of candidates for parliament ahead of May’s election… but a senior source allied to President Cyril Ramaphosa said tainted former officials are unlikely to make it […]

South African learners joined an estimated 1 million school students – from over 100 countries around the world – who walked out of classes on Friday in a global strike, to protest against government inaction on climate change. (Watch video below.) Signs in South Africa included “Eskom we don’t want your dirty coal” and “The […]

Thousands of school students across South Africa called on government to act against climate change. Youths demonstrated at Parliament in Cape Town, the Union Buildings in Pretoria, and the Department of Energy in Durban. Similar protests are taking place on Friday in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. The worldwide effort has been organised […]

JOHANNESBURG – Eskom has warned that the loadshedding of the past week is likely to continue until Sunday, and says that further cuts are probably on the horizon next week… which is not great news for business. Eskom supplies more than 90 percent of South Africa’s power… but has suffered repeated faults at its fleet […]

I often wonder how it was for you. I wondered then, and I wonder now… writes Ilze Lee. I know it must have been painful. Demeaning. Hard. I imagine that it was filled with many days of fear. So often, I see black people comment that white people have not apologised for what happened. We […]

Johannesburg is famous for having one of the largest urban forests in the world, but now the South African city faces losing much of that extraordinary and beautiful 10-million tree canopy as a tiny beetle threatens to cause one of South Africa’s largest ecological tragedies. ‘Garden Style’ author Melanie Walker reports on the current crisis, […]

A powerful tropical storm made landfall in Mozambique on Thursday evening, battering a coastal city with heavy rain and wind at speeds of up to 170 km an hour and injuring several people. Parts of Mozambique were cut off on Friday because of Cyclone Idai. In Beira, a city of around 500,000 people and a […]