The City of Cape Town has announced that Day Zero (when residents’ taps will be turned off) “is expected to move out to mid-May 2018” thanks in large part to a decline in agricultural usage. The reported date is now 11 May. DA Leader Mmusi Maimane said: “This significant victory is thanks in large part […]

KENYA – One of the world’s top ivory and rhino horn trade investigators, Esmond Bradley Martin (75), was found murdered at his home in Langata, Nairobi on Sunday. He was allegedly working on a new report exposing the illegal trade. Esmond, an American geographer, had travelled the world identifying ivory and rhino horn markets and […]

South African motorists will be relieved this week as the petrol price is expected to decrease, thanks to the stronger rand. The department of Energy has announced a price decrease in petrol and diesel this week. “The rand appreciated, on average, against the US dollar (from R13.23 to R12.20 per USD) during the period under […]

Two siblings in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal tragically died on Saturday night after playing with their father’s licensed firearm. The incident occurred at 23h50, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS). The SAPS said an 11-year-old boy was playing with the firearm when a shot went off and struck his two-year-old sister. “The victim was taken […]

Minibus taxis in South Africa have been filmed using the pavement as an extra lane! Gauteng photographer, Susan Harwood, captured the action on film in William Nicol Drive in Johannesburg on 30 January 2018 at 06h40. Her initial post was apparently removed after receiving 3,500 shares and being sent to the ‘powers that be’ to […]

The South African graduate whose heartfelt tweet of gratitude to her father made national headlines last year, when she thanked him for taking her to university “even though you are a security guard”, has sadly lost her father to an illness. Alfred Mabanga passed away on 25 January in hospital. Just as his daughter Thobile (Thoby) […]

Here are the latest topics due for broadcast on Carte Blanche this Sunday, and available for South Africans living abroad from Tuesday – 6th February 2018 – if you’re a subscriber to Showmax International. (Sign up here.) Table Mountain Knife Attacks Last week yet another hiker was robbed,  stabbed and killed in the Table Mountain reserve, […]

A South African woman, Belinda Davids, who has been bringing the house down around the world… has finally come to the attention of her fellow South Africans, thanks to social media. In December, Belinda’s incredible rendition of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ earned her a standing ovation at the prestigious Showtime At The […]

A sports injury clinic in the heart of London – with a predominantly South African team – is helping save the rhinos back home in SA. Each year Ultra Sports Clinic (USC) sponsors a different charity taking part in the London Marathon. This year they’ve selected Save the Rhino International, and will be treating all […]

Johnny Clegg was never going to bow out quietly. Despite battling cancer, he felt he owed his fans a proper farewell, and for the past several months he’s done shows across the US, and in Canada, Dubai and London during his The Final Journey world tour. TONY JACKMAN caught the penultimate show of the tour […]

South African veteran actor David Phetoe has passed away at the age of 85. He died at a Johannesburg hospital on Thursday. Phetoe was well known for his prominent role on the SABC drama, Generations as Paul Moroka, father to Karabo (Connie Ferguson) and Archie Moroka (Sello Maake ka Ncube). Channel 24 reports that the […]

The more than 900 mineworkers who were trapped underground for over 24 hours at Sibanye’s Beatrix Gold Mine near Theunissen in the Free State have all been safely rescued Friday morning, according to an SABC report (see below). Sixty-five miners had already been rescued yesterday in a very slow operation that allowed for only one […]

DA Leader Mmusi Maimane and Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste Services Xanthea Limberg, visited the Strandfontein desalination plant on Friday, and confirmed they expect the plant to be online as early as March 2018. Maimane called it “great news” and said the plant will produce seven million litres of potable water […]

A huge rescue operation was launched Thursday in South Africa to rescue 1,100 miners trapped in a Free State gold mine. According to a Sibanya-Stillwater spokesperson, 300 have so far been rescued, but hundreds remain underground. UPDATE FRIDAY 07H30 – All trapped miners have been safely rescued. The miners at Sibyane Gold’s Beatrix Mine – […]

A series of tweets posted today by Western Cape paediatrician Alastair McAlpine have gone viral, trending in places as far away as Glasgow in the United Kingdom. The tweets reveal what children with terminal illnesses most appreciate and love about being alive… The Meaning of Life According to Kids – tweeted by Dr Alastair McAlpine […]

With a city in the rare position of being located besides not one – but two – oceans, Cape Town, South Africa, has come under fire for not having desalination plants in place… and several rumours have been posted and shared on social media about the City’s alleged lack of foresight and resistance to Israel’s […]

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete says a request by the President to deliver the State of the Nation Address has been approved. Parliament’s presiding officers on Thursday briefed the media on the readiness of Parliament to host the State of the Nation Address (SONA) next week Thursday, 8 February. The joint sitting of the National […]

New water restrictions kicked off in Cape Town, South Africa, this morning, with residents now only allowed 50 litres per day per person, in a desperate bid to stave off Day Zero… currently set at 16 April 2018, when the taps will be turned off. Local blogger – Girl Unplugged – filmed the following scene […]

If you look up right now, wherever you are, there’s a beautiful bright super-moon orbiting our planet. Today – 31 January 2018 – we’re blessed with a rare lunar occasion… the sight of a full moon, a total lunar eclipse (not visible from South Africa unfortunately), a blue moon and a super-moon all at the […]

In the face of panic that schools will be forced to shut in the event of Day Zero, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has today reassured parents and principals that the provincial government will continue supplying water to schools in the drought-stricken province… although that means increased security will be necessary as the threat of […]

2018: A Better year – yes or no? writes Steuart Pennington. 18 Reasons why the answer is “YES” “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one” – Voltaire. In breezing through the Sunday papers, notably the Sunday Times and City Press I was struck by Mavuso Msimang’s question “is the clean-up in […]

A beautiful, yet sad, video filmed on Clifton Beach in Cape Town shows the impact that the longest ever drought in recorded history is having on all those who live in the Western Cape region of South Africa. A desperately thirsty bird drinks from the hand of local Cape Town resident Joel Graham. Joel posted […]

Mmusi Maimane – Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) – has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, requesting that this year’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), scheduled for next Thursday 8 February, be postponed until Jacob Zuma has been removed from office, and Parliament is afforded an opportunity to elect […]

The South African Broadcasting Corporate (SABC) has officially appointed MTN Executive, Chris Maroleng as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the broadcaster.  Maroleng will be replacing Hlaudi Motsweneng who was expelled last year.    Maroleng’s appointment will be effective from tomorrow, February 1. “I accept the position at the SABC with deep humility, and […]

The allegations made by US-based company Viceroy Research that South Africa’s Capitec Bank is operating as a loan shark – and which Capitec have dismissed as factually incorrect – are serious and should be investigated by the SARB (South African Reserve Bank), says David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance. Viceroy released a report on […]