U2’s ‘Ordinary Love’, which they wrote for “Nelson Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom”, lost out at the Oscars last night in the Best Original Song category to ‘Let It Go’ from “Frozen”.  (And John Travolta couldn’t figure out how to pronounce Idina Menzel’s name when introducing her ‘Let It Go’ performance.) So South Africa’s […]

Unfortunately there will be no big South African winners at the Oscars tonight, but Charlize Theron will be on stage as a presenter …and U2’s ‘Ordinary Love’ (which they will perform this evening) could win the Best Music award for “Nelson Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom”. Previous South African Winners (and those who almost […]

As the international media descend on South Africa to cover the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, his family have called for an end to “public commentary”, but whether the media are commenting on Oscar – or on South Africa – it’s unlikely to stop just yet. Oscar’s uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said that with the start of […]

Cape Town celebrated Gay Pride 2014 today, and used the opportunity to march for those around Africa who can’t – with many placards calling on other African countries (particularly Uganda) to drop their homophobic laws and attitudes. “Cape Town’s diversity came alive at the Gay Pride today,” says Corinne Gans, a Cape Town based photographer […]

The last of Reggie Yates’s three-part BBC3 series on “Extreme South Africa” will air on Monday night in the UK with a focus on one of Johannesburg’s controversial “mega-churches”, The Church of Incredible Happenings. This week the British TV presenter – who has already delved into the largest white slum in Pretoria and covered knife crime in […]

A photo of a rather full African Rock Python has caused a bit of a stir on Facebook in the last couple of days. Andy de Wet, from De Wet Enviroscaping, uploaded the above photo of the snake after it was discovered on his neighbour’s farm in the Hartebeespoort/Brits area, having just eaten a duiker […]

Former Bafana Bafana, Kaizer Chiefs and Leeds United football star Lucas Radebe returned to his old primary school to give away magazines, much to the delight of the school kids there. Inspired by Brent Lindeque’s “A South African #NekNomination” video, this was Lucas’ own Random Act of Kindness (#RAKNomination). See video below. The South African […]

Ben Affleck, Hollywood actor and director of  Iran hostage-crisis drama “Argo”, reprised one of his more serious roles this week, as expert on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a far cry from his next on-screen role as Batman! Affleck testified on Wednesday in Washington D.C. on the murder and mayhem in the DRC. […]

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will present the Budget Speech to Parliament today (26 February 2014) at 14h00 South African time. It’s been a disappointing year financially for South Africa with slow economic growth, a plummeting rand and escalating government spending. With the controversial introduction of initiatives like e-tolls, many South Africans have a lot to […]

The perenially cool Wendy Oldfield turns 50 today. Happy Birthday to one of South Africa’s most beloved rock stars! Wendy burst onto the South African rock scene at the age of nineteen in the ’80s as lead singer of The Sweatband, with the very catchy single “This Boy” (which still works today – take a […]

During the UK broadcast of tonight’s episode of Reggie Yates’ 3-part Extreme South Africa series, expats took to Facebook to post their opinions of Reggie’s visit to Khayelitsha. Carlaine Milledge described it as “a devastatingly accurate portrayal of Khayalitsha. I have no words to describe what I’m seeing” whilst Don Beukes said “I am already […]

Here’s a preview of what British viewers will see tonight on “Reggie Yates’ Extreme South Africa”. (See below.) This is the second episode in a three-part series in which the British TV presenter gets “up close and personal” with different communities in post-apartheid South Africa. Last week’s episode was met with some shock and sadness […]

The first official trailer for ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ movie – which was largely filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa earlier this year – is ready to view! The film, starring Robert Downey Jr, is due to hit movie theaters in May next year. Marvel Entertainment uploaded the trailer two days ago for movie fans to […]

Popstar, fashion designer and wife to one of the planet’s hottest football players, Victoria Beckham jetted in to Cape Town today. She’s in South Africa to support the Born Free Africa initiative, which is meeting in the Mother City this week to highlight “South Africa’s progress toward elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV”, according […]

This is Arabella Latham’s debut single below – “Like This” – and it’s awesome. She’s 16, from Durban and  has the voice of an über cool angel. She writes all her own music and lyrics, plays guitar and sings. Here the South African schoolgirl – who’s in Grade 11 – talks to SAPeople about her first guitar, […]

As the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season kicks off this evening for the DHL Stormers, the team has published a preview video discussing their thoughts on the upcoming season. Tonight the Western Province team will face the Lions (whose season began last week when they beat the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein 21-20). “I’m very pleased and […]

Calling all South Africans abroad who are registered to vote! President Zuma has today signed the election date proclamation! Important for Expats: It will be published in the Government Gazette on Tuesday 25th February From that date, you will have 15 days to complete and submit the VEC10 form online The form will ONLY be […]

It’s been less than three weeks since Brent Lindeque uploaded his ‘South African NekNomination’ video and changed one thing…which changed everything. Today he spoke to SAPeople about optimism, South Africa and his day job. On 31 January Brent uploaded his Neknomination challenge in which he had changed the social media game’s rules and done something […]

South African expats in the UK reacted with sadness and shock (and even some anger) after watching a BBC 3 documentary last night about poor white people in Pretoria, South Africa. The 55-minute doc was the first in a three-part series – entitled “Reggie Yates’ Extreme South Africa” – in which presenter Reggie Yates gets […]

Tim Harris MP, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, delivered the following speech in parliament today, during the debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address. (Again we’ve put the more interesting bits in bold for the skimmers!) Harris pointed out that in his State of the Nation address, Zuma claimed credit for the past […]

EuroNews, a European news channel featuring international news, published a documentary recently about Coronation Park – a squatter camp in Krugersdorp, South Africa, where a lot of impoverished white (and black) people live. They describe this camp as one of a growing number of townships becoming populated mostly by white Afrikaners who are facing poverty […]

Award-winning South African drama ‘Otelo Burning’is now available for people outside of South Africa to download and watch. The film tells the emotional coming-of-age story about three teenagers in a township who discover joy – and freedom – through surfing at the end of apartheid. It’s based on a true story. ‘Otelo Burning’ was screened […]

South African Sunday Times photographer James Oatway has been awarded second place in the prestigious POYi Newspaper Photographer of the Year competition. James (35) graduated from Rhodes University in Grahamstown in 1999 with a Bachelor of Journalism degree. Here, he talks exclusively to SAPeople about representing South Africa, the comfort of family, and when natural […]

Gauteng teenager Filipa Carmo da Silva (18) has won the global One Direction cover song competition, run by American TV show host Ryan Seacrest. An hour ago she wrote on her Facebook page: “Woke up to the most amazing news! Thank you so much to everyone who stood by me all this time! Im so […]

Over a century ago, after losing to the British in the Anglo Boer War, 600 Afrikaner Boer families left South Africa and set off on their journey away from their beloved homeland, becoming perhaps the country’s first expats! They travelled across the ocean to a remote and desolate corner of Patagonia in Argentina, where they’ve remained […]