The Patagonian desert in southern Argentina is a harsh environment. Little seems to thrive on its seemingly endless red plains and parched land. Yet in this unlikely place there is a unique bilingual community. It’s made up of the Afrikaans and Spanish-speaking descendants of the about 650 South African Boers, who came to Patagonia in […]

A fire, which has already claimed one life, has continued to rage across parts of the Overstrand in South Africa, causing ecological devastation and threatening the safety of residents. However, winds have fortunately died down today. Last night a mother of two young children in Gordon’s Bay took to Facebook to express her fear as […]

DAKAR – Egypt will host the 2019 African Nations Cup finals, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed after a meeting of their executive committee in Dakar on Tuesday. They will stage the expanded 24-team event in June-July after initial hosts Cameroon were stripped of the tournament last month over concerns at the slow pace […]

Zolani Mahola, the lead singer of Freshlyground, is lending her support to the South African Bone Marrow Registry for a cause close to her heart. The ‘Give a Little, Save a Life’ campaign, launched on donations based crowdfunding platform, BackaBuddy, aims to raise R300 000 to assist four local children who are in dire need of a life-saving […]

Positive laboratory results have confirmed Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in cattle in the Vhembe District of Limpopo, South Africa, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said on Tuesday. In a statement, the department said samples were collected during a disease investigation after reports of cattle with lameness were received. The positive location is […]

JOHANNESBURG – At least three people were killed and around 200 injured on Tuesday morning when two trains collided in the South African capital Pretoria, an emergency services official said. Charles Mabaso confirmed two of the fatalities with Reuters, and Netcare911 have since updated the death toll to three. Netcare said more than 200 passengers […]

The family of 66-year-old Stanley Currie, who went missing in South Africa after boarding a flight from Dublin, Ireland, to Joburg has expressed gratitude to all those who helped share their distraught posts looking for him. It was information from a member of the public that helped locate him, together with fantastic work from a […]

South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education announced a 2018 matric pass rate of 78.2% in the first week of January as well as a number of other significant achievements. These are academic results of students in their final year of high school. The results are used to gauge the state of the country’s education system. […]

Condolences have poured in for OR Tambo District Municipality Mayor, Nomakhosazana Meth, after she suffered a double tragedy this weekend when her two sons were killed in a car crash late Friday night in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The two boys had been out celebrating their matric results when the accident happened in the early […]

Brand South Africa has welcomed South Africa’s improvement in the 2018 Index of Economic Freedom. This comes after the Heritage Foundation has ranked South African 77th out of 100 world countries in terms of economic freedom. In terms of economic freedom, the Heritage Foundation indicates that with a world rank of 77/180, South Africa is […]

A video has gone viral in South Africa showing a rat trying to tuck into some food on sale at Food Lover’s Market in Diepkloof, Soweto. (Watch below.) The video was posted by Sipho Ndhlovu, saying: “That’s how diepkloof food lovers serves its customers and the rats so comfortable and not scared of people as […]

PARIS – A music video, set in the Louvre, by Beyonce and Jay-Z – who were recently in South Africa for the Global Citizen Concert – helped boost visitor numbers to a record 10.2 million last year, the most for any museum in history, the Louvre said on Thursday. A rebound in tourist numbers to […]

The historic Bo-Kaap – with its colourful architecture and community life – is shockingly under threat as developers put up high-rise modern conveniences… and don’t even try to respect and fit in with one of South Africa’s most photographed areas! Tonight on Carte Blanche, the investigative programme asks: Who will win the battle for the […]

“It was a challenging night for ground crews as the Betty’s Bay Fire battle moved high into the mountains,” says award-winning South African photographer Justin Sullivan, who has been up close with the firefighters as they tackle the fire which has already claimed one life, and has been raging since New Year’s Eve… when a […]

Two chalets were burnt last night in Oliphants Camp in South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park… caused by a braai which had not been extinguished. There were no injuries, however the two chalets were badly damaged as evidenced by the photos on this page, taken by Theo Thumbran. Theo and his wife are currently on […]

A family from abroad is seeking the help of South Africans in SA to find Stanley Currie, who has been missing since 28 December 2018 when he boarded a flight from Dublin Ireland to South Africa on a one-way ticket. UPDATE: Missing Irishman Stanley Currie has been found in South Africa.  His brother, daughter-in-law and […]

NAIROBI – Girls in western Kenya returning to school after the Christmas break are undergoing compulsory tests for female genital mutilation in a move to crackdown against the illegal and harmful practice, a senior government official said on Friday. They are also being tested to see if they are pregnant. George Natembeya, commissioner for Narok […]

On Christmas Eve a 13-year-old aspiring ballerina, Kiara Mun-Gavin, was involved in an awful car crash in Durban, South Africa. She had been on her way to church with her mother when her entire life changed in an instant. Her devastated parents – well known Durban North pastors Jaci and Richard Mun-Gavin – were told […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Three former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers were arrested in London on Thursday on U.S. charges that they took part in a fraud scheme involving $2 billion in loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique, a spokesman for U.S. prosecutors said. Andrew Pearse, 49; Surjan Singh, 44; and Detelina Subeva, 37 were […]

One of South Africa’s great liberal stalwarts, Rupert Lorimer, has passed away. Lorimer was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Progressive Party in 1974 and joined Helen Suzman in Parliament in the fight against the brutal apartheid regime. Democratic Alliance National Spokesperson Refiloe Nt’sekhe said the DA is saddened by Lorimer’s passing, and […]

Devotion, that’s the recipe to become a top matriculant according to one of the 2018 top performing learners, Rowan Crafford. The blind student from Prinshof School was among the cream of the crop invited to a ministerial breakfast hosted by Basic Education (DBE) Minister Angie Motshekga and Vodacom as a sponsor on Thursday morning. The […]

The Department of Home Affairs has announced that several of its offices across the country will operate from 7am to 7pm shift from 2 to 11 January 2019 to ensure clients are not turned away from offices during this busy period. Home Affairs normal shifts are from 8am to 3.30pm during the week. In a […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah revealed to his Daily Show audience this week just what he did at an American airport, when he realised that the souvenir he’d brought from home was not going to be okay to take through Customs. When asked by a member of the audience – during his Between the Scenes […]

It seems New Year’s Day brought out the best in South Africans as yet another story of brave heroes diving into the ocean to rescue strangers in distress is going viral. Capetonian Ricardo Rossouw published a post yesterday saying that on 1 Jan he “witnessed the true meaning of humanity… the true spirit of Ubuntu” […]

One person – a 59-year-old woman – has died and two have been seriously injured in what has been described as a “traumatic night full of uncertainty” as the #BettysBayFire raged in the Overstrand last night. Another person – believed to be an 18-month-old baby – also suffered minor injuries. The fire began on New […]