JOHANNESBURG – South African tax revenues fell a whopping R15 billion short of the government’s target in the 2018/19 fiscal year, with revenue estimated at R1.287 trillion ($91 billion), the revenue service said on Monday. South Africa has seen revenue collections fall consistently since 2015 due to weak economic growth and administrative weakness, the latter […]

A legendary charity swimmer has thrown his rubber cap and goggles in the ring, signing up for a “wild swim” to promote alternatives to heavy minerals mining on South Africa’s pristine Wild Coast. (See GroundUp articles on Xolobeni.) Stan Kozlowski, who has helped collect more than R12 million for conservation and other good causes over […]

CAPE TOWN – The development bank of the BRICS group of emerging economies has approved funding of $790 million for three South African projects, the bank’s president said on Monday. “We plan to end the year with total loan approvals of about $2.3 billion in South Africa,” New Development Bank president Kundapur Vaman Kamath told […]

Sri Lanka’s test captain Dimuth Karunaratne – who led his team to a record-breaking win against South Africa last month – was arrested on Sunday for drink driving after an accident injured at least one person near the main hospital in capital Colombo, a police spokesman said. Sri Lanka won a two-test series against South […]

LONDON – The Rolling Stones have postponed a tour of the United States and Canada to give singer Mick Jagger time to receive medical treatment, the veteran rock band said on Saturday. “I’m devastated for having to postpone the tour but I will be working very hard to be back on stage as soon as […]

Miniaturised frogs form a fascinating but poorly understood group of amphibians. They have been exceptionally prone to taxonomic underestimation because when frogs evolve small body size they start to look remarkably similar – so it is easy to underestimate how diverse they really are. As part of my PhD I have been studying frogs and […]

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Police Minister Bheki Cele will urgently meet on Monday with Heads of the Diplomatic Missions in South Africa following reports of attacks on foreign nationals. In a statement issued on Saturday, Sisulu expressed deep concern at the recent spate of violence and urged law enforcement officers to […]

JOHANNESBURG  – The retail price of petrol in South Africa will rise by nearly 9 percent from April 3, while the price of wholesale diesel will increase by close to 6 percent, the energy department said on Sunday. The price of petrol will rise by 131 cents to 16.13 rand  ($1.11) per litre in the […]

On Carte Blanche this evening (Sunday 31 March) in South Africa, and available to stream from Tues 02 April for South Africans abroad in many countries. Cyclone Idai – Surviving the Aftermath With hundreds of people dead and the government of Mozambique grappling with the outbreak of waterborne diseases as they coordinate the delivery of […]

Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane will stand trial for culpable homicide over a fatal car accident in 2014, a Johannesburg judge said on Friday, rejecting a request to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. Driving a Porsche sports car, Duduzane Zuma, 35, crashed into a minivan taxi on a highway near Sandton in […]

SAFA President, Dr Danny Jordaan has joined South Africans around the country in congratulating former Bafana Bafana defender Siboniso Gaxa who has graduated from Wits University with a Political Science and Social Studies degree. The SAFA President, a proponent of the philosophy of taking education as a priority and fall-back plan by football players, said Gaxa […]

South Africa’s central bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 6.75 percent on Thursday in a unanimous decision, saying it assessed the risks to the inflation outlook to be more or less balanced. All economists surveyed by Reuters predicted the repo rate would remain on hold. (Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana, Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Naledi […]

Former SA Revenue Service (SARS) deputy commissioner Edward Kieswetter has been appointed as the new Commissioner for South African Revenue Service (SARS). President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday that Kieswetter will lead the revenue service for the next five years starting on 1 May. The National Treasury was confident that the selection process that was […]

On Monday while many people drove, bussed, cycled or walked to work… there was a doctor in KwaZulu-Natal who not only walked over an hour with a bag of heavy medication on his back, but even swam across a river to make sure he reached his patients! Dr John Michell, who studied at the University […]

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane has written to the Zondo Commission requesting President Ramaphosa be subpoenaed to testify before 8 May when South Africans vote. Maimane said in a statement on Wednesday: “The revelations emanating from testimony before the Zondo Commission into State Capture yesterday confirm that President Ramaphosa and his family are deeply […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Cyclone Idai’s deadly hit has left some 1.85 million people in need of assistance in Mozambique in a catastrophe that United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday rang “yet another alarm bell” about climate change. Guterres described Idai, which flattened homes and caused massive flooding after slamming into Mozambique near the […]

JOHANNESBURG – Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane has pleaded not guilty in a Johannesburg court to culpable homicide and negligent driving relating to a fatal car accident in 2014. Duduzane appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Driving a Porsche sports car, Duduzane crashed into a minivan taxi on a highway […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah just explained reparation in one of the most powerful, yet simple and quick ways ever. It’s a little like golf. Watch below. Trevor posted the video to social media (“for anyone confused about reparations”) just over an hour ago, and it’s already received over 2,5 million views with many applauding […]

With the electricity system gradually improving, no load shedding is anticipated for this week, says Eskom. “The improvement in plant performance, together with replenished diesel and water reserves over the last few days, as well as the increase of imports from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa to 850MW, has positively shifted system performance,” said Eskom in a […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s gold and platinum mines will shed around 90,000 jobs in the next three years as above-inflation electricity price increases by power utility Eskom add to already soaring operating costs, an industry body said on Monday. “In total, as many as 90,222 jobs would be at risk solely as a result of […]

In its efforts to ramp up the fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination, the South African government has launched a tool to assist in combating these intolerances. The tool comes in the form of a 67-page document known as the National Action Plan (NAP). The plan, which takes its cue from the Declaration Programme of […]

Rescue teams in Mozambique moved hundreds of people displaced by Cyclone Idai’s massive and deadly flooding to safer shelters on Monday, while the government made preparations for a cholera outbreak that it says is inevitable amid the devastation. In areas west of the port city of Beira, hundreds of people were trapped for more than […]

The week got off to a fabulous start in Cape Town, South Africa, where a drizzly dawn was transformed by a bright double rainbow that seemed to stretch across the entire Mother City. Several Capetonians stopped on the side of the road to snap photographs of the exquisite double rainbow as it lit up their […]

Amidst the floods and devastation that Cyclone Idai has left in its wake, there are many South African heroes who are making us proud. SAPeople spoke to one of them, Soweto doctor Qasim Bhorat whose poignant messages from Mozambique make us cry, and smile… Qasim grew up in Stanger, studied at the University of the […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Mozambique reported scores more deaths on Saturday from a cyclone and floods around southern Africa that have killed at least 732 people and left thousands in desperate need of help, many on rooftops and trees. (Please see bottom of page if you would like to help.) Help is needed swiftly, as evidenced […]