As fires have ravaged across areas of the Free Sate, North West and Northern Cape, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to urgently declare and gazette a state of disaster for the fire-ridden areas of these three South African provinces. It’s estimate […]

A well-known midwife in Gauteng, who runs her own private birthing home in the South African province, has allegedly been administering drugs to induce and speed up labour without her clients’ consent. Tonight Carte Blanche investigates this and more. Infant Deaths, Brain Damage and a Popular Midwife She was a popular pick for expectant parents […]

Since the year 2000, South Africa has made big strides in lowering levels of both child and adult hunger, as well as improving food security for many poor families. Research has shown that these improvements were largely driven by the expansion of the child support grant. Around 12.5 million of these grants are paid each […]

CoGTA Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has once again extended the national state of disaster, which was set to expire today, justifying it with “the need to continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by organs of state to address the impact of the disaster”… writes John Steenhuisen – Leader of the Democratic Alliance – […]

The following is a full transcript of President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s address to Parliament on Thursday, 15 October 2020: I have requested this sitting of the Joint Houses of Parliament to present the plan for the reconstruction and recovery of our economy and our country. In contrast to the State of the Nation Address, where we […]

The National Traffic Police (NTP) has shut down a Pretoria company that is allegedly producing fraudulent vehicle licence discs. This comes after the traffic police’s specialised unit, the Falcons, conducted a raid on the premises of the company in Kameeldrift on Tuesday morning. This after two trucks were found to have false vehicle licence discs […]

Most of South Africa’s seasonal rainfall occurs during the warmer summer months, from October to March. As a result, October is an important period for farmers to begin planning when to sow crops (such as maize, wheat and sunflowers) for the growing season. October is also an important period for the tourism industry to think […]

The Democratic Alliance today announced the names of candidates nominated to stand for election to party leadership roles at the DA elective federal congress on 31 October and 1 November. Only two candidates each will be standing for the the posts of federal chairperson (Helen Zille and Mike Moriarty, chief whip of the DA in […]

EFF Leader Julius Malema has announced that the Economic Freedom Fighters will be in Senekal in the Free State on Friday, where two suspects are due to appear in court charged with the murder of young farm manager Brendin Horner… and where a peaceful protest is planned against farm murders and violence. Addressing a crowd […]

South Africa has recorded 888 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of detected cases to 693 359. “Regrettably, we report 83 more COVID-19 related deaths – 17 from the Eastern Cape, 43 from the Free State, two from KwaZulu-Natal, 11 from Gauteng and seven from the Western Cape. “This brings the total number of […]

“Ramaphosa’s words on farm murders ring hollow, we need to see action,” says Dianne Kohler Barnard MP – DA Shadow Minister of State Security – in a press statement on Monday, responding to the South African President’s weekly newsletter in which he said the killing of young Free State farm manager Brendin Horner “should anger […]

Tomorrow the Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will lay criminal charges against EFF leader, Julius Malema, and EFF Member of Parliament, Nazier Paulsen, for social media posts that they say incite violence. On Wednesday, following Tuesday’s protests by farmers in Senekal in the Free State, Malema tweeted: “Magwala a chechele morago! (Cowards move to the […]

This Sunday Carte Blanche investigates what it means to be able to cross a borderline with no passport controls or customs checks. South Africans living in small towns along the eastern Free State’s highly porous border with Lesotho are under severe pressure as farm attacks, stock theft and violence escalate. You can watch the show […]

How do we speak trauma? We know from medicine that people embody trauma, beyond words. It shows up in our hearts and our blood pressure, our dreams and our nightmares; we pass it onto our children, and we work it through in arts, spirituality, counselling. My work has focused on a burning question in South […]

A former police officer, Post Office cleaner and two civilians were arrested on Wednesday, for alleged corruption and extortion, following a sting operation between the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation Unit and Provincial Anti-Corruption Unit. This comes after the Virginia Post Office manager in the Free State was allegedly approached and lured by one of her […]

The civil rights organisation AfriForum addressed the community of Senekal today and branded farm attacks and murders in South Africa as a form of terror. This announcement came after the recent brutal murder of Brendin Horner (22) on a farm outside this town, said AfriForum. Representatives of AfriForum formed part of the crowds who came […]

Several groups and individual farmers are expected to gather in Senekal, South Africa, today to support the community as two suspects in the murder of Paul Roux farm manager Brendin Horner (22) appear in the Senekal Magistrates Court. Brendin’s body was discovered tied to a pole in the Paul Roux district, Free State, on early […]

South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, has been elected as the chair of the ministerial body tasked with finalising negotiations on the terms for the commencement of the preferential trade under the African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Patel takes leadership of the African Ministers of Trade (AMOT) three months prior […]

Parliament has dismissed the Citizen newspaper’s claims that it will fully open for physical meetings on 5 October 2020. In a statement on Thursday, Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said the report is replete with blatant falsehoods and fictitious references. “As if these fabrications were not bad enough, the story further claims that the ‘regular Cabinet […]

On 9 April, sex worker and activist Robyn Montsumi was arrested on a drug charge and held at the Mowbray police station. A few days later she died in police custody. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is investigating what is allegedly a suicide by hanging. Sex worker advocacy groups are demanding an update on the investigation. […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has thrown his weight behind the empowering of women in Africa by giving them enabling tools to build themselves a financially secure and independent future. President Ramaphosa was speaking during a high-level virtual panel, G7 Partnership for African Women’s Financial Inclusion on Wednesday. The panel also featured philanthropist Melinda Gates, Queen Máxima […]

Is the crime holiday over? As lockdown restrictions ease, criminal activities in South Africa are sharply spiking, according to Carte Blanche on this Sunday’s broadcast. Presenter Macfarlane Moleli says: “As the national lockdown restrictions continue to ease, experts around the country are seeing a spike in criminal activities. It seems the perpetrators are making up for […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has honoured the late human rights lawyer and social activist, Advocate George Bizos, by declaring a Special Official Funeral Category 1 for him. President Ramaphosa authorised that the national flag be flown at half-mast at every flag station in the country from Saturday, 12 September, until the evening of the Special Official […]

South Africa’s recovery rate has now jumped to 88.9% after 573 003 patients recuperated from COVID-19. Meanwhile, novel Coronavirus cases have hit 644 438 after 2 007 infections were identified on Thursday, while the death toll stands at 15 265. Of the latest 97 fatalities, 26 are from Mpumalanga, 21 from Gauteng, 17 from KwaZulu-Natal, 15 from […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the plunge in South Africa’s gross domestic product during the second quarter of 2020 reflects the severe impact of the global Coronavirus pandemic on the economy and should spur all South Africans to do all they can to help rebuild the economy.   While the 16.4% contraction in the second quarter […]