CAPE TOWN – Big business is backing a South African fund to eradicate invasive trees around Cape Town and yield billions of litres of water as the city emerges from its worst drought in a century, officials said on Friday. Alien species, such as eucalyptus trees which are largely native to Australia, are thirstier than […]

Eskom has placed its Executive for Group Capital Division at Eskom, Abram Masango, on suspension pending an investigation into various allegations of impropriety. The allegations of impropriety against Masango relate to the Kusile Power Station project. Eskom said the suspension is with immediate effect. “Whilst we recognise his rights to be presumed innocent, however, given […]

Holidays are approaching with an estimated two million holidaymakers expected to descend on South Africa’s iconic Durban beachfront. But the once beautiful sandy beaches  are now littered with heroin needles and shards of broken glass from bottles smashed to make crack pipes… Could a multi-billion rand make-over fix things? Durban residents are concerned about the […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s central bank will keep interest rates on hold at its Nov. 22 meeting, according to a Reuters poll, but the number of economists forecasting a rise suggests it is a very close call. In a poll taken in the past week, 16 of 26 economists said the South African Reserve Bank […]

Hope abounds for South Africa’s lions as a new Parliamentary report has called for an end to captive lion breeding in South Africa! The news has been welcomed by local and international conservationists and NGOs, and the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Phillemon Mapulane, has been praised for his part in getting the […]

JOHANNESBURG – U.S. President Donald Trump intends to nominate South African expat and luxury handbag designer Lana Marks as the new ambassador to South Africa, the White House said, almost two years after the last ambassador left under Barack Obama. Marks, who was born in East London and attended Clarendon High School, now has American […]

CAPE TOWN – A South African parliamentary team has recommended a constitutional amendment to make it possible for the state to expropriate land without compensation in the public interest. The Constitutional Review Committee said amending section 25 would make it explicitly clear that such expropriation could be carried out to accelerate land reform. “South Africans […]

The South African Department of Water and Sanitation has raised fears that the country may end up with half  the water resources it has currently, as the heatwave continues to affect dam levels. “The heatwave in most parts of South Africa is reducing dam levels at an alarming rate and there are fears that unless […]

Following photos being shared wildly on social media in the past week or so, showing chaos at the Johannesburg International Mail Centre, the South African Post Office (SAPO) told SAPeople yesterday that the photos were old (they were in fact from 2015!) and that “the picture looks very different currently”. We asked the Post Office […]

According to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, land reform in SA will not violate constitution. Addressing the European Parliament on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said the country will enact land reforms in adherence to the country’s constitution and with respect for the human rights of all its people. “This problem of land will be resolved through adherence […]

Although there IS a lot of mail at Johannesburg’s International Mail Centre, it is NOT as bad as it looks, according to the South African Post Office (SAPO)… and it should all be cleared by the end of November. For a start, the photos currently being spread on social media are old, probably taken during […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has (finally) resigned, the Presidency said on Tuesday. His resignation following calls from opposition parties to stand down in recent weeks over a High Court ruling which found he lied under oath. Gigaba, who was finance minister between March 2017 and February 2018, has denied any […]

BEIJING – China has postponed the lifting of a ban on the trade of rhino horn and tiger parts for medicine and other uses, the government said on Monday, after a storm of protest from conservation groups over a plan to water down the decades-old prohibition. In October, the State Council issued a circular replacing […]

LOS ANGELES – Stan Lee, who dreamed up Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Panther and a cavalcade of other Marvel Comics superheroes that became mythic figures in pop culture with soaring success at the movie box office, died at the age of 95, his daughter said on Monday. As a writer and editor, Lee […]

International media appear to be taking an increased interest in farm attack victims in South Africa, facilitated largely by self-proclaimed civil rights organisation AfriForum. Apart from the well publicised reports in Australian and US media, others are now following suit. Last week AfriForum accompanied French radio station, Radio France Internationale (RFI), to an interview with […]

The Kevin Richardson Foundation has raised more than R2.7 million in its #LandforLions campaign, breaking the record for the most money ever raised for a single campaign on a South African rewards platform. The campaign by the non-profit organisation was run on crowdfunding website, Thundafund.com, to secure the Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary and ensure a safe […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s cash-strapped power utility Eskom said on Monday the risk of nation-wide electricity outages had increased significantly due to a sharp fall in coal stockpiles at five of its power stations. “The risk of load-shedding is there and it’s rising,” said Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe. “In total, we have 11 coal-fired power […]

As countries around the world marked 100 years today since the end of the First World War, a South African granddaughter – Seonaid Davidson Beningfield, from KwaZulu-Natal – recalls stories of her grandfather’s bravery (of which he, like so many soldiers of that time, never spoke)… My grandfather, William Henry Boyne Davidson, was 17 years old when he […]

A manhunt has been launched in Welkom, Free State, in South Africa this weekend after the fatal shooting of a 54-year-old man in his vehicle in the parking lot of a shopping complex. Shai Mikia Mophapi was shot late Saturday afternoon – at approximately 17h30 – in the parking area of the Commando Supermarket complex […]

The travel time between Maputo and Kosi Bay has just been DRASTICALLY reduced… from six hours to 90 minutes! Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi today officially opened the new road that connects Maputo and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. It includes a 3km twin-tower suspension bridge – Ponte Maputo-Catembe or Maputo-Catembe Bridge – that extends 680 m […]

The 16th Penguin Festival was held this morning at Seaforth Beach in Simon’s Town… where Nigel Riley captured the ‘waddle to freedom’ of 21 rehabilitated African penguins as they were released back into the wild ocean. The liberation was made even more special for one penguin that had been at a Sanctuary for a whole […]

PARADISE, California, USA – Five people died in Northern California when flames engulfed their vehicles as they attempted to flee Paradise, a mountain town north of Sacramento mostly destroyed by one of three wildfires raging across the state, US authorities said on Friday. Nearly 500 miles to the south, a second blaze forced the evacuation […]

In the world of smartphones, China has Huawei, Korea has Samsung, while the United States of America has Apple. And soon South Africa will have Mara! Long-time dark horse Africa is now taking centre stage with the announcement of the Mara phone project that is touted to take the smartphone business by storm. Developed by […]

We’re used to seeing touching pictures of police in Cape Town stopping the traffic to allow ducklings to cross the road. But this morning, there is outrage in South Africa as one careless driver – perhaps in too much of a rush to notice – ran over two ducklings while passersby frantically tried to get […]

DAR ES SALAAM – Tanzania released two staff members of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday, a day after they were detained and their passports seized, the South African Foreign Ministry said. Tanzanian Immigration Department spokesman Ali Mtanda said Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo were arrested for violating the terms of […]